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EOWIM P. t^ONAWe JP. 



PATHWAYS 

OF 

EUROPEAN PEOPLES 

AN OUTLINE STORY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 
THAT FORM THE CHIEF BACKGROUND OF 
AMERICAN CIVILIZATION 

BY 

BERTHA B. AND ERNEST COBB 

Authors of Arlo, Clematis, Anita, Busy Builder's Book 

Hand in Hand with Father Time, Garden Steps, 

The Hen at Work. 

Outline Maps by 
EDWIN C. LEONARD, Jr. 

Illustrated with many photographs of unusual European 

views. 



BOSTON 

THE ARLO PUBLISHING COMPANY 

NEWTON UPPER FALLS, MASS 



WE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBE 

this book to our cousin, Stanwood Cobb, of Washington, 

D. C, a leader in progressive education, who labors to 

make the pathways of learning bright and happy. 









Copyright, 1922 

For the United States and Foreign Countries 

By bertha B. and ERNEST COBB, 



AU rights reserved. 



NOV 18 '22 

©CU692237 



PREFACE 

Thanks are due to many kind friends 
for their help in building the material of 
this book. So many people have read 
over and tested these pages that it is im- 
possible to remember and name them all. 

To Miss Lena Gushing, of Framingham, 
Mass., and her teachers, who devoted 
their classes for an extended period in 
working out our problems, special grati- 
tude must be paid. 

Another friend who deserves our kind- 
est thanks is Superintendent Hector 
Belisle, of Fall River, Mass., who reviewed 
the text from the standpoint of one with 
long experience in teaching history to 
young people. He paid special attention 
to those periods where religious conflicts 
became the dominant factors in historic 
movements. 

When the manuscript was finally ready 

• • • 

111 



for the press, unusual good fortune fell 
upon us. 

All writers of history tremble at putting 
out a book, for fear, in spite of all care, 
some mistakes have been made, some 
faults in selection and combination of 
historical matter committed. 

It happened that the finished manu- 
script for Pathways came into the hands 
of George Haven Putnam, of New York. 
He became interested, and offered to read 
it for a critical review. 

His generous offer was carried out with 
infinite pains. A few sheets at a time, 
the pages came back from his desk, filled 
with suggestions, notes and fresh material 
to be considered. 

Money could not have bought a service 
like this. An author of historical works 
himself, George Haven Putnam has lived 
through many of the European events we 
read about. He combined in this task 
the accomplished historian, the experi- 
enced editor, and the observer over many, 
many, momentous years. 

iv 



When Maximilian attacked Mexico, 
during our civil war, he was one of those 
who wondered whether he should be sent 
with the Union Army, to drive him out. 

When Prussia helped Italy to win 
Venice back from Austria, in 1866, Mr. 
Putnam was eagerly watching events from 
America. When Prussia overwhelmed 
France, in 1870, he took an active personal 
interest. 

As a writer and publisher, Mr. Putnam 
has been a keen student of human events 
of all ages. His aid in giving accuracy 
and balance to the pages of this book 
lends us confidence in placing Pathways 
before a critical public. 



HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF 

History repeats itself. Events taking 
place today are similar to events which 
have taken place many times before in the 
history of mankind. 

The results of those movements we see 
about us are also going to be much like 
the results of similar movements, which 
have evolved frequently during the ages 
since man began his struggle here on 
earth. 

A knowledge of history, a vision of the 
human races, as they have lived through 
various epochs, will give us a fresh com- 
prehension of our own times. 

If we can understand the causes and 
effects of important events in ages gone 
by, we caa also understand how move- 
ments now going forward are likely to 
end. Such a vision would make life 
happier and better for all men. 

vi 



Thousands, however, read history, and 
never get a clear picture of those sweep- 
ing movements of mankind which have 
brought great changes on earth. Details, 
dates, names, places, battles, minor events 
of all sorts, fill so many pages that the 
larger view is lost. 

The purpose of Pathways is to tell the 
story ot a leading group of European 
nations in such a way that the reader's 
mind can move rapidly from one event to 
another, free from a heavy burden of 
general information, such as is presented 
in most historical books. 

It has been the purpose of the author to 
set down the most important causes and 
results of all great movements which have 
made Greece, Italy, France, and Ger- 
many, what they are today. 

The life story of these nations makes up 
the life story of continental Europe, for 
they have been the chief actors on that 
broad stage. 

Our daily life here in America owes 
much to these European nations, and we 

vii 



shall never see light upon our own paths 
until we have a clear view of the pathways 
that have been trodden in past years by 
the people of Europe. It is in the hope 
of making that view clear to the thought- 
ful reader that this book has been written. 



vni 



GREECE 



ANCIENT GREECE 

Greece, a little country that lies near 
the eastern end of the Mediterranean sea, 
has been of great importance in history. 

The Greek people were civilized and 
educated three thousand years ago.. They 
were intelligent and curious. They also 
loved new things, so they tried new forms 
of government, and ways of life, that have 
guided other people, in other countries, 
during nearly three thousand years. 

The Greeks were naturally simple in 
their tastes, moderate in their desires for 
wealth, and ambitious to excel in those 
arts which make life truly happy and 
worth living. - 

1 



Greek people spent much time in carmg 
for their bodies, to make them strong 
and beautiful. They studied music, and 
painting, and sculpture, and public speak- 
ing. They also loved poetry and drama. 
So great was their love for these things, 
and so perfect was their taste, that no 
people have ever equalled the Greeks in 
works of art. 

Ancient Greece was never a single 
nation, as it is now. Today it has one 
king, and a group of men chosen to advise 
him. Three thousand years ago Greece 
was dotted here and there with small 
cities, and each city ruled itself. 

Each Greek city-state built a wall near 
its center for protection. Outside this 
wall lay the farms and orchards, with 
cottages for slaves and workmen. When 
an enemy came, they all could gather and 
hide behind the protecting wall. 

Although they were of the same race, 
and were often related to each other, the 
people in these different cities were never 
at peace. If one city grew and prospered, 

2 



some other city would attack it and try 
to stop it from becoming too strong. 

The Greeks all loved their home cities, 
and were always ready to die for them. 
They were just as ready to attack another 
city nearby, never stopping to think that 
by doing this they kept the Greek people 
weak and helpless. 

The history of Ancient Greece is the 
history of a number of independent city- 
states wearing each other out with their 
never-ending disputes and wars, arising 
from rivalry, jealousy and hatred. 

Two cities were so important in the 
history of the Grecian people that, if we 
know their story, we shall understand the 
history of Greece in ancient times. They 
were Sparta and Athens. 




THE ACROPOLIS. IN ATHENS 



SPARTA 

Sparta occupied a deep valley, thirty 
miles from the sea, in (he southern part 
of Greece. The city lay among moun- 
tains, so rough and so impassible that few 
enemies dared attack her. Had Sparta 
wished to live in peace, her situation 
would have made her safe. 

The earliest records of Sparta show that 
about 800 B. C. she already had a consti- 
tution. Under this constitution she was 
to be governed by two kings, with a group 
of about forty prominent citizens to 
advise them. These kings had little real 
power, and, while Sparta was a leading 
city in Greece, she was ruled by a group 
of aristocrats. 

When the Spartans conquered their 
secluded valleys they drove the native 
people out, and let them live and work on 
the land beyond the city walls. 

4 



These native people were half free and 
half enslaved. They might live, each on 
his own little farm, but all had to pay 
heavy tribute to the Spartans. 

Slaves ia great numbers served both 
the Spartans and these half-free farmers. 
The slaves, mostly captured in war, were 
the property of the Spartan state, and 
were not owned by individuals. 

Slaves performed all the common labor 
and were treated like cattle. Historians 
state that whea the number of slaves grew 
too great for use or safety, some were 
killed, to keep the number what their 
rulers wished it to be. 

The aristocrats who ruled Sparta were 
determined to keep all power over all the 
territory round them in. their own hands. 
They trained their young men to march, 
to run, to fight, and to do everything that 
would make them bold and obedient 
soldiers. 

The Spartan leaders were careful to 
keep the young men from study, and any 
mental training that would lead them to 

5 



think for themselves, because they might 
then revolt against the tyrants who ruled 
them. 

Every boy was the property of the 
state. At birth, if not robust, the child 
was left alone in the forest to die. If 
strong he was given good care at home till 
he was seven. Then he left home and 
went into camp. 

At camp all sat at a common public 
table. The kings themselves sat among 
the rest, and ate the same coarse fare. 

Little did these fearless Spartan youths 
realize that they were being enslaved, 
body and mind, by their crafty masters. 
They won renown for their feats of 
strength. They were praised and 
flattered. So they lived on in the stupid 
content of ignorance, shut in from the 
growing world. 

An Athenian who visited them declared 
that he no longer wondered why Spartans 
never feared death. 

"I should rather die," he said, ''than 
live such a life as this." 

6 



SPARTA BEGINS HER CONQUESTS 

750 B. C. 

What is the use of a good army if you 
do not go to war? This must have been 
what Sparta thought as her army grew in 
strength. 

Sparta did not need a large army for 
defense, because no one attacked her; the 
mountains were her chief defense. 

Messenia, a beautiful and fertile land, 
lay just to the west of Sparta. The 
Spartans wanted this garden spot, and 
determined to possess it. 

When a people wish war, an occasion 
for war always rises. Some dispute over 
the boundaries rose, about 750 B.C., and 
the Spartan army suddenly appeared 
upon the fair Messenian plains. 

The Messenians were not trained to 
fight, and, when it was all over, the lovely 

7 



towns were in smoking ruins. Men, 
women, and children had died without 
mercy, and those left aHve were made 
subject to their Spartan masters. 

Hereafter these Messenians would have 
to till the Spartan lands, pay heavy 
tribute, and serve her in time of war. 

The Messenians, while serving the 
Spartans as slaves, waited eagerly for a 
chance to strike back at their hated 
masters. After about fifty years the 
day came. 

Enemies from beyond the mountains 
attacked Sparta, and neighbor states, 
hating her also, joined the Messenians in 
revolt. 

But Sparta was too strong. Again she 
swept over Messenia with fire and sword. 
This time she reduced those who were 
left to a state of slavery. They served her 
humbly and in silence, but deep in their 
hearts was a hope that some day they 
might strike down the hated Spartans 
and be revenged. 

So Sparta developed. First one city 



and then another fell before her well- 
trained armies. 

The other Greeks fought in crowds, 
which lacked order and discipline. 
Sparta drilled her men ia companies, and 
each knew just what was to be done. 

Her fame became so great that other 
states dreaded to meet Sparta in combat, 
and after two centuries, by 500 B. C, she 
ruled almost half the Peloponnesus, which 
is the southern part of the Grecian 
peninsula. 

The other half of the Peloponnesus 
acknowledged her the leader and director 
of their fortunes. 




APOLLO DANCING WITH THE MUSES 



9 



SPARTA 
THE MILITARY HEAD OF GREECE 

500 B. C. 

Sparta was now really the head of 
Greece. She had formed a great military 
league among her subject states, and 
those that stood in fear of her power. 
The Spartan league covered all southern 
Greece. 

No Grecian city dared hope to over- 
come Sparta now, in a test of arms. 

This leadership of Sparta, however, 
had little on which it could depend. She 
knew little of the broad principles of 
government. The plan she followed with 
Messenia was used with other neighboring 
cities. 

The Spartan method in subduing a city 
was to overcome and kill the fighting men. 
The remaining inhabitants were made 
tributary to Sparta, and were placed 

10 



under Spartan governors, who kept their 
power by force of arms. 

Each conquered city waited and longed 
for a day when it might rise in revolt 
against the tyrant masters. 

Most Greeks respected temples and 
religious spots, but Sparta was ready to 
destroy even sacred places, as she proved 
in an attack on Argos. 

•Argos was an independent city which 
hoped to defend itself against the greedy 
Spartans; but in a fierce battle her army 
was overcome. 

When they saw they were defeated, 
the men of Argos withdrew into a sacred 
grove for protection, for there they 
expected a safe retreat. 

The Spartans surrounded the grove, 
set fire to it, and killed every man who 
tried to escape. Sparta was then sure 
that Argos could not attack her for many 
years, and she did not disturb herself 
much about the bitter hate that burned 
deep in the heart of every living member 
of that mistreated race. 

11 



THE SPARTAN INFLUENCE 
SPREADS 

Many Greek cities, just across the 
Aegean sea, on the shores of Asia Minor, 
were threatened just before 500 B. C, 
with destruction by Cyrus, the great 
Persian Lord. He was spreading his 
kingdom over all that land, and captured 
every city in his path. 

These Greek cities across the little sea 
sent messengers to the Spartans. 

"Help us with your splendid army,'* 
they begged, "for without your help we 
shall soon fall before the Persian tyrant." 

But Sparta did not wish to help other 
Greek cities grow strong. She feared 
them less when they were weak. Secure, 
behind her mountains, she feared Cyrus, 
the Persian king, less than she feared the 
Greek cities whose hatred she had aroused. 

12 



"Oh yes/' the Spartans answered, *Ve 
shall be glad to help you, just as soon as 
we can get an army ready to go." 

The visitors returned gladly to tell the 
good news. The Spartans never arrived; 
but Cyrus did, and, one after another, he 
captured the little Greek cities along the 
Eastern shore of the Aegean sea. 

When he was master of the eastern 
shore of the Aegean, the Persian king 
looked across at the rich cities of European 
Greece, on the western shore. 

In 492 B. C. a great expedition was sent 
to capture them. It was wrecked at sea. 

Two years later, in 490 B. C., another 
Persian attack was made. This time 
fortune favored the Persians, and the 
Greek cities nearest the coast trembled, 
as the great fleet drew near. 

Again envoys appeared in Sparta, this 
time from Athens, a beautiful city north 
of Sparta, near the shore. 

' *A vast host is upon us. Without your 
aid we are lost. Help, in the name of 
Greece." 

13 



The Spartans listened. Behind their 
mountains they were secure. Athens was 
a strong, growing city. They feared her 
strength, and envied her growth. It 
would suit the Spartans better if she were 
attacked and crippled. 

''Yes, yes," they answered. "We will 
give help, but we are just now waiting 
for the full of the moon. The days till 
then areeacred, and we could not march." 

The Athenians hopefully went home 
again, but the Spartans meant to give 
them no help, so they had to meet the 
vast Persian army with their own people, 
almost unaided. How valiantly they 
fought, and how great a victory they won 
at Marathon, will be told in the story of 
Athens. 

Now Sparta saw that she had betrayed, 
not a ruined Athens, but a proud, victo- 
rious Athens. 

A third time the Persians planned to 
attack the Greeks. News came to Greece 

of the vast armies in preparation across 
the Aegean. 

14 



This time Sparta realized that even her 
state might be in danger; so she joined 
Athens, and other cities, in a council for 
defense. 

The time had come at last, when 
Sparta's downtrodden neighbors saw their 
opportunity. Argos and Messenia feared 
Sparta more than they did the Persians, 
and hated her greedy, ugly rule. They 
promised to help, but, as Sparta had 
done so easily, they forgot their Dromises. 
They hoped to see her ruin. 

Even now, had Sparta done as she 
agreed, Greece might have been saved. 
It was planned to meet the Persians at 
Thermopylae, a narrow pass in the north- 
ern part of Greece, and Sparta promised 
to have a strong army there. 

When the Persians reached Thermopylae, 
the Spartan army was at home, and only 
a few picked soldiers had been sent to 
defend the pass. 

These few Spartans fought bravely and 
died to the last man, rather than surren- 
der, but a secret path was shown to the 

15 



Persians by some traitor. The Spartans 
were crushed, and the Persian hosts swept 
down upon the Greek cities. 

Behind her rough mountains, Sparta 
watched with secret satisfaction the dis- 
truction of Athens, and other cities to the 
north, and made no move to help them. 

The Persians, destroying city after city, 
kept moving south. As winter approached 
they did not all return to Persia, but 
camped a large army in Greece, and said 
that the next spring they would capture 
the whole Peloponnesus. 

Now Sparta trembled for her very life. 
Alone she could not defend herself. At 
last she joined gladly enough with the 
other cities, and prepared to meet the 
Persian attack. 

The Spartan king was made general 
of the united armies. All fought together 
for their lives, their families, and their 
homes, and the Greeks, next spring, 
defeated and destroyed the Persian 
army. 

The Greeks were grateful to Sparta for 

16 



what she had done, and made Pausanias 
a Spartan general, commander of their 
great fleet of fighting ships, built mostly 
by Athens. 

Soon after he was appointed, Pausanias 
was discovered plotting with Xerxes, 
who had become king of Persia. Pie 
planned to become ruler of Greece, as a 
petty tyrant under the Persian king. 

Pausanias was punished, but the other 
Greek cities no longer dared trust Sparta. 
They formed a new league, called the 
Confederacy of Delos, and Sparta was 
left out. 

Sparta prospered a few years longer, 
trying to find ways to stop the growth of 
her sister cities. Then a calamity fell 
upon her. 

A great earthquake nearly destroyed 
the city, killing thousands of the Spartans. 
Instantly the slaves and neighbors saw 
their opportunity, and rushed upon their 
hated masters, hoping to end them all. 

But the Spartans knew their danger 
and were ready. They were making 

17 



brave headway against the slaves when 
Messenia revolted. 

Foes appeared on every side. In 
despair Sparta sent word to Athens. 

"We are attacked on every side," she 
said. ''If you do not help us quickly our 
city will be destroyed." 

"It is a trick," said some wise Athen- 
ians. "Do not trust them." 

"No," said others, "they helped us 
against the Persians, let us save them from 
destruction." 

So they sent an army to help Sparta. 
When the Athenians arrived, Sparta was 
on the point of victory. She feared the 
Athenians, lest they, too, should turn 
against her^ so she shut her gates. 

Refused admission to the city, the 
Athenians had to return and take the 
long, hot march back again, weary and 
unrefreshed. 

Thus once again the Spartans bitterly 
offended her neighbors of the north. 



18 



PELOPONNESIAN WAR 

SPARTA BEGINS TO CRUMBLE 460 B. C. 

Friendship among the Greek cities 
was no longer possible. The flame of 
war, smouldering so long, blazed up, and 
Sparta found herself in the midst of a 
bitter contest, in 460 B. C. 

Athens and the northern cities were 
now attacking Sparta and her unwilling 
allies. For fifteen years the war raged 
on, until both sides were exhausted, and 
a truce was signed, intended to last for 
thirty years. 

Before the thirty-year truce was half 
gone, war broke out again. This time 
it was war to the death. 

Each year Sparta sent out her armies 
to conquer and ravage the lovely fields 
and groves of the northern states. The 
furious enemies, not daring to meet her 

19 



in open combat, took shelter in their 
walled cities and fought there till the 
Spartan armies had retired. 

Year by year the Spartan armies 
returned. Each year there was less for 
them to capture. Each year their ranks 
grew thinner and thinner. 

Sparta's population shrank from ten 
thousand citizens to two thousand. It 
seemed as if the Greeks would kill each 
other until not a soldier was left. 

At last, seeing that she could never win 
by her armies, once so famous, Sparta 
betrayed the rest of Greece into the hands 
of Persia for gold. 

With Persian funds and Persian soldiers 
a fleet was built to meet the exhausted 
Athenians. Sparta conquered Athens in a 
terrible naval battle. There she captured 
four thousand Athenians and put them to 
death in cold blood. 

This marked the end. Sparta had 
worked the ruin of her rivals, but in the 
same act she cut the stream of her own 
life. 

20 



Sparta lived in luxury a short time, 
on Persian gold, and on tribute forced 
from other cities. The severe and simple 
life she used to lead had made her strong 
This life of luxury made her weak. 

Gathering her last remaining strength, 
Athens, helped by Thebes and other 
cities, again attacked Sparta. Her 
neighbors, who hated her more bitterly 
than ever, made excuses, and left her to 
fight as best she could. 

This attack, in 371 B. C, settled the 
fate of Sparta. She was defeated, crushed, 
and her leadership in Greece was over. 

Sparta rose to glory, and had her fall 
in a brief period. By 500 B. C. she was 
a leader in Grecian affairs, and in a little 
more than one long life time her course 
was ruQ and her power was gone. By 
350 B. C. she had sunk from view, and 
was never known again as a great city. 

Sparta tried to rule by the sword, and 
fell by the sword. 

Sparta tried to conquer weaker nations 
by force, and rule them by force, but they 

21 



grew stronger as she grew weaker. She 
made no friends to stand by her, and at 
last the weaker nations, by joining against 
their common enemy, brought an end to 
the proud and hated Sparta, 




A BIRDSEYE VIEW OF MODERN ATHENS 

22 



ATHENS 

Athens had a situation far different 
from that of Sparta. Instead of moun- 
tains, about her on every hand, she had 
the sea, the lovely blue Aegean, close 
beside her. 

Her people could look across the sea to 
the islands that fringed the shores of Asia 
Minor. Her splendid harbor attracted 
ships from the ports of old and cultured 
cities in the East. 

New people and new ideas were wel- 
comed in Athens. The Athenians loved 
novelties of all kinds. .They traveled 
much and entertained many travelers. 

Besides this influence of interchange 
with other lands, the Athenians had a 
natural disposition to try new things. 
Changes were frequent and welcome in 
this remarkable city. Within two or 
three centuries, she tried several forms of 

23 



government, and finally developed the 
purest form of democracy the world had 
as yet seen. 

The varied experience of the Athenians, 
with different ways of life and forms of 
government, make their history of un- 
usual value to us today, because they 
did so many things that we are trying 
to do now. 

The Athenians hoped to live under a 
form of government like the democracy 
we ourselves are trying to build. They 
planned education for every boy, as 
Americans are planning it today, for 
every boy and every girl. 

The Athenians loved art, literature, 
and every attainment of culture. So 
greatly did they excel in all these things, 
that their works of art have served the 
world as models to this day. 



24 



THE LAWS OF SOLON 

ABOUT 600 B. C 

Solon is the first great man to attract 
attention, as the facts of early Athenian 
history become definite. 

At this time social conditions in the 
city were bad. At the top was a group 
of nobles. They owned most of the land 
and had all political power. 

Below these nobles was a class of 
citizens, supposed to be free, but the laws, 
all made by the nobles, were unjust. If 
a citizen could not pay his debts his 
creditors might take him, and his wife 
and children, and sell them as slaves. 

As the nobles owned most of the prop- 
erty, it was easy for them to act as 
tyrants over these poor citizens. 

Below these citizens was, in every 
Greek city, a large body of slaves. 
Athens gained great wealth from her 

25 



slave trade. These slaves were often 
cultured and well born, captured in war, 
perhaps, or sold for debt. 

Sometimes the slaves were treated 
kindly. Sometimes they were treated 
with terrible cruelty. The master could 
usually do with them as he chose. 

The lower classes were suffering so 
greatly from bad treatment, when Solon 
became prominent in Athenian affairs, 
that they threatened to revolt. War, a 
frequent condition in Greece, made 
matters worse. 

Solon warned his fellow nobles in 
Athens. 

'Tf you allow all these slaves and poor 
citizens to become desperate," he said, 
''they will join our enemies against us 
and we shall be destroyed." 

Facing this disaster, the Athenians 
placed all power in the hands of Solon. 
He proved great enough for the occasion. 

Though a noble himself, Solon at once 
reformed the laws the nobles had made. 
He cancelled all debts. Those people 

26 



made slaves because they could not pay, 
he set free. After this no Athenian was 
ever enslaved because he could not pay 
his debts. 

Solon gave himself up to his work with 
earnest self-sacrifice. He studied to 
improve life in Athens, and did much to 
teach the Athenians honesty and fair 
dealing. 

The old laws had put to death all those 
caught stealing, but thieving grew more 
and more. 

Solon decreed that those who stole 
should return twice what they had stolen. 
Then stealing became much less. 

Solon said that every citizen should 
have a vote on some questions. This 
gave them small power, but the idea of 
giving all citizens a right to take part in 
government was a new and wonderful 
thing in the history of the world. 

The power of Solon was so great that 
he could easily have become a despot. 
When his friends urged him to do so he 
smiled and said : 

27 



"Despotism may be a fine policy, but 
there is no way out of it." 

Solon refused all temptations to get 
power for himself, and set an example of 
pure and lofty morality for other great 
men, coming after him, to copy. 

Through the wise laws he established, 
which have passed on, in one form or 
another, even to our own day, Solon 
exerted an influence on human affairs 
equalled by few other men. 




RUINS OF A GREEK THEATRE 



28 



PEISISTRATUS 

Peisistratus was a kinsman of Solon. 
He was bold, crafty, and ambitious. 
When Solon was away, visiting other 
cities, he planned to seize control of 
Athens and rule as he saw fit. 

The Athenians were warned, but paid 
little attention to warnings, so they woke 
up one fine morning to find themselves 
in the grasp of a tyrant, who meant to 
rule as he chose, and to rule by force if 
necessary. 

A tyrant is one who rules without 
the consent of the people. Sometimes 
tyrants are bad men who do great harm 
to those they rule. Some tyrants have 
been intelligent and eager to rule well. 
Peisistratus was determined to rule in 
his own way, and when the Athenians 
tried to drive him from the city, he raised 
an army and killed all who opposed him. 

29 



After he had made himself the master, 
however, Peisistratus was a wise and 
strong ruler. He changed few of Solon's 
laws, ruled justly, and was acceptable to 
Athens during a long life. 

The people of Athens, during this long 
rule of a despot, slowly grew accustomed 
to being told what they must do in all 
things. When Peisistratus died, the 
Athenians had been under a tyrant so 
long, they hardly knew how to act. 

Now the people of Athens had reason 
to regret the day they had carelessly 
allowed a tyrant to rule their city. Two 
sons fought for the throne of Peisistratus. 
Groups of citizens took sides. Athens 
was torn with quarrels, and deadly strife 
grew worse and worse, until at last the 
Athenians roused their manhood, and 
drove the family of tyrants from the city. 



30 



CLEISTHENES 

ALL CITIZENS HAVE VOTING RIGHTS 500 B.C. 

Cleisthenes was the great leader who 
rose to help the Athenians regain their 
self-control. He began in 510 B. C. to 
continue the reform Solon had outlined 
ninety years before. 

Cleisthenes greatly enlarged the demo- 
cratic forms of government, giving to all 
citizens actual power in governing them- 
selves. 

Strangers who moved from one Greek 
city to another, had up to this time, never 
been admitted to citizenship. Cleisthenes 
thought this was wrong. 

^'If we welcome good men from other 
cities," he urged, "and let them become 
citizens, we shall make many new friends, 
who will bring their wealth and influence. 
From them we shall learn much that is of 
great value to our city." 

31 



This advice was taken, and strangers 
who wished to Hve in Athens were granted 
rights of citizenship at that time. In 
later years, when jealous factions rose 
again, this right was taken away. It was 
a great benefit to Athens while it was in 
force, and the people of Athens suffered 
much loss later on, when strangers were 
refused the right of citizenship. 

Cleisthenes had a great ambition to teach 
the Athenians to rule themselves justly and 
well. He strengthened the democracy till 
it was firmly founded on rules that were 
well understood. Each citizen had a vote, 
and knew how to make use of it. 

But Cleisthenes could not make the 
people of Athens work together. He 
urged them to unite, but jealous factions 
kept them apart. He begged them to 
show a brotherly spirit, but they sus- 
pected each other and would trust no one. 
Still, because of her great leaders, Solon, 
Peisistratus, and Cleisthenes, Athens had 
grown, by 500 B. C, into a brilliant, 
powerful city, a leader in northern Greece. 

32 



When the cities across the Aegean sea 
had begged Sparta for help, she refused, 
but, when they turned to Athens, she 
sent a strong navy to their aid. 

After the Greek cities were captured, 
however, and king Darius of Persia made 
plans for an expedition to European 
Greece, he said he should punish Athens 
for her attack upon him. 

"Tell the Athenians," he said, ''that 
when we leave her shores, the only sign 
of life upon the place where their city 
stands will be the track of Persian feet". 




APOLLO BEARING OFF ANTIGONE 

33 



THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 

490 B. C. 

When Athens heard of the vast army, 
ready to attack, her people trembled, and 
sent out calls for help. Sparta, as we 
have seen, refused. 

The first Persian attack, in 492 B. C. 
failed, because of a great storm at sea. 
The second, two years later, filled all 
Greece with dread. 

How should her few stand against the 
millions of Persia? As Sparta would not 
help, Greece must depend upon Athens 
to be her champion. 

The vast Persian fleet approached the 
shores of Greece at Marathon, twenty 
miles from the gates of Athens. Mara- 
thon was a small plain, surrounded by 
hills. 

So at Marathon the Athenians gathered 
to defend their beloved city. When the 

34 



Persian soldiers landed on the shore, the 
Greeks rushed upon them with desperate 
courage. 

Never before had the Persians met 
fighters like these Athenians. The 
Persians were hired to fight, and many of 
their soldiers were slaves. But most of 
the Athenian soldiers were free men, 
fighting for their lives, and for all that 
they loved. 

The Persians fought valiantly till they 
saw that the day was lost. Then they 
fled to their boats and sailed away. 
Athens, almost alone, had conquered the 
most dreaded army in the world. 

With the inspiration of this great 
victory, Athens became a new city. The 
hope of Cleisthenes that his people might 
work together for their common good, 
was now fulfilled. Fear of a dreaded foe 
had made them forget their petty quarrels 
and jealousies. Their victory at Mara- 
thon made them remember that Athens 
was a glorious city and that they were 
Athenians. 

35 



History affords no better example of 
blessings that may come in strange 
disguises to people and to nations. 
There is no inspiration so high as the 
victory that conquers fear. 

After this no enterprise could daunt 
their courage. No odds were too great 
for them to overcome. The Athenians 
planned wonderful things, and succeeded 
wonderfully, because they threw them- 
selves without reserve and with a single 
aim, into whatever they resolved to do. 




Courtesy Raymond & Whitcomh 

THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS. ATHENS 

36 



THEMISTOCLES 

Themistocles was the leader who arose 
with the new Athens. Themistocles 
believed that, in the future, Athens must 
have a strong navy.. 

"See our harbor, and our port. That 
is a great gift, if we make' use of it," he 
urged. ''Let us build ships, and extend 
our walls, so we can move back and forth 
from the ships to the city in safety." 

To carry out hisplans they must build 
walls several miles in length, and also go 
to great effort and expense for their ships. 
Many opposed this plan, but the eloquence 
of Themistocles won the day, and soon a 
fleet of ships was growing in the harbor 
port of Athens. 

As the fleet developed, and dangep 
seemed distant, the Athenians found 
fresh cause for disputes. Their peace 

37 



and good will seemed almost at an end, 
when a new alarm made them join hands 
in friendship once more against a common 
foe. 

In Persia, King Darius, who planned 
the attack at Marathon, had died. 
Xerxes was now King of Persia. Xerxes 
decided to avenge the defeat of Marathon. 
He raised an army so great that even 
Sparta, in her mountain retreat, felt 
afraid. 

The Greek cities, which had been fight- 
ing each other, ceased their quarrels and 
joined in a general plan of defense. 

''Now," said Themistocles, ''let us 
finish our fleet, and get our ships all 
ready." 

No one opposed him. The Athenians 
worked night and day to get prepared. 

In 48c B. C, just ten years after the 
battle of Marathon, the blow came. 

Sparta, as the first military city in the 
league, was in command. The Spartans 
said that they would defend the most 
important pass, at Thermopylae, in 

38 



northern Greece, while other cities were 
given different posts. 

As we saw in reading her story, Sparta 
betrayed the trust. She had only a few 
soldiers on duty. These few fought to 
the death, but a secret path was made 
known to the Persians, and the vast 
hordes broke through. 

The Athenians fought bravely to pro- 
tect their homes, but it was hopeless. 
The Persians broke down their defenses 
and stormed the city. 

The Athenians, thanking their gods, 
and the wise Themistocles, crowded upon 
their ships and put to sea, to watch the 
smoke and flames above their burning 
city. 

Themistocles gathered the leaders in 
haste. 

''The Persians depend upon their fleet 
to protect their army here, and guard its 
passage home. If we can destroy the 
fleet at once it will be a heavy blow to 
their campaign." 

Other leaders were afraid, and objected 

39 



to this bold plan, but the Athenians had 
great confidence in Themistocles. His 
will prevailed. 

The Persian fleet was found near 
Salamis, an island not far from Athens. 
There the Greeks, for once acting under a 
single head, crushed the Persian fleet in a 
magnificent victory. 

Salamis, even more than Marathon, 
became a glorious memory to their native 
land. 

Xerxes, his fleet now crippled, hastened 
home, leaving a large army to ravage 
Greece. Many Greek cities, already 
governed by despots, joined despotic 
Persia, but neither bribes nor promises 
could move democratic Athens. 

Through a long, tragic winter the 
Athenians kept brave hearts, and at 
Plataea, the following Spring, Athens 
gathered an army from a league of cities, 
including Sparta, and destroyed the 
Persian invaders. 

Persia never again attacked European 
Greece. The Athenians, by their fleet, 

40 



under the wonderful leadership of Them- 
istocles, had saved the people of their 
city, and a democracy, whose influence 
is felt to this day, was developed to bear 
more and richer fruit. 

The naval policy of Themistocles had 
proved such a great success that it was 
now developed with more intense energy 
than ever, and that great man held com- 
plete sway over Athenian fortunes. 

Themistocles developed the harbor, 
and, to provide a safe way from the city 
to the ships, he completed the long walls 
to the water front. 

Sparta, still safe in her mountains, and 
secretly glad that Athens was burned, 
tried to stop these plans, but Themistocles 
was too quick for Spartan wits. He 
rapidly rebuilt Athens, more beautiful 
than before, and she soon took a leading 
place once more among the cities of 
Greece. 



41 



THE CONFEDERACY OF DELOS 

470 B. C. 

The democratic life of Athens brought 
one very important result: it made the 
Athenians more generous and kind to 
other cities. Sparta, ruled by despots, 
could not bear to see other cities flourish; 
and did her best to ruin them. Athens, 
on the other hand was not only willing 
to let them alone, but 3ven to help them. 

After the Persians were defeated, and 
Athens saw that Sparta really wished 
her downfall, she ended the agreement 
between them and planned to form a 
new league, from which Sparta should 
be left out. 

The cities across the Aegean sea now 
hoped to free themselves from the rule 
of Persia. They asked Athens to help 
them. 

"Yes," replied the Athenians. ''Let 

42 



us form a new league. Let us all send 
delegates to meet at Delos. On that 
quiet island we can arrange our affairs." 

They all agreed, so a group of delegates, 
representing many Greek cities around 
the shores of the Aegean sea, met on the 
island of Delos, halfway across from 
Athens to the shore of Asia Minor. 

Aristides, a brilliant, honest, courteous 
Athenian, led the discussion, and was 
made the president of the leaQ:ue, which 
was called the Confederacy of Delos. 

The delegates agreed to meet each year 
at Delos to discuss new plans and vote 
on them. Each city was to have one 
vote. Each city was to contribute ships 
and men according to its size and wealth. 
Athens was to be the leading city, and 
Aristides the man in charge. 

Aristides directed affairs with such 
courtesy, and skill, and honesty, that all 
the cities were content with his plans, 
and, while he directed matters, the 
Confederacy of Delos was a great success. 

Athens placed a powerful fleet upon 

43 



the Aegean sea. One by one the Persian 
garrisons were overcome, and the Greek 

cities were again set free. 

Seeing the good result of the league, 
one city after another asked to join, till 
it spread up to the shores of the Black 
Sea. Three hundred cities became mem- 
bers of the Confederacy of Delos. 



ko»»i-< K Lta.>tiV» 3A- 






AT THE. Tine. OF 

TriEni5T0CLE5 









.f;,^. 



■■■A\ ■•"".■ i 





44 



THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 

The story of how this Confederacy of 
Delos grew into a despotic enapire is both 
interesting and important, because events 
hke this take place often in the world 
today, though people do not always 
realize it. 

As the coast of Asia Minor became 
freed once more from the Persians, and 
the fear of another invasion became less 
and less, the cities took less interest in 
plans for defense. 

The powerful Athenian fleet cruised 
the waters of the Aegean sea. There was 
no fleet to dread. It was a good deal of 
trouble to keep sending men and ships to 
join in a navy that had no one to fight. 

Some cities said they would rather 
contribute money than ships and men. 
This suited Athens. 

^*We will keep up the fleet and the 

45 



army," she said, ''if you will contribute 
your share of the expenses." 

As more and more cities stopped send- 
ing delegates to the Conference, and 
agreed to pay money each year, Athens 
was well pleased. She felt able and 
willing to direct matters herself. The 
great sums they paid in made her rich 
and powerful. 

Naxos, a city in this league, at last 
decided to withdraw from membership, 
and sent neither money, ships, nor men. 

''Where are your contributions?" asked 
the Athenians. 

"We have decided to withdraw from 
the Confederacy of Delos," the people 
of Naxos replied. • 

"We have paid tribute for ten years. 
There is now no foe to fight. What are 
you doing with all the money you collect?" 

"That is none of your business," replied 
the Athenians. "We agreed to keep 
enemies away from the Aegean sea. You 
agreed to help pay the cost of this pro- 
tection. We are keeping our agreement 

46 



so well that no foe dares appear.* Now 
you keep your agreement and pay up, or 
you will wish you had." 

But Naxos still persisted in her plan to 
withdraw from the league. Then Athens 
attacked her, killed many of her leading 
men, destroyed all her defenses, and made 
her promise to pay her share every year 
for the general expenses. 

Naxos was not taken back into the 
league. She lost her vote, but had to 
pay her tribute each year as a mere sub- 
ject city of Athens. 

Other cities now became suspicious of 
Athens. What was she doing with all 
this money? The delegates at the annual 
conference were very few. These dis- 
satisfied cities tried to withdraw, as Naxos 
had done. 

Every time a city tried to withdraw, 
Athens attacked it, made it pay up, and 
refused it any further vote in the league. 
City after city fell into her power. 

The meetings of the congress of the 
Confederacy of Delos had ceased alto- 

47 



gether by 450 B. C. Two or three cities 
were all that remained independent. 
The rest were gathered under the control 
of a tyrant city. 

This confederacy had now become the 
Athenian Empire. Strangely enough 
that democratic city, through the unwill- 
ingness of other cities to attend faithfully 
to their duties in the league, found herself 
mistress of a great Empire. 






/ 1 ■ 




s.;. 







THE PRISON OF SOCRATES 
Socrates, a Greek philosopher, was condemned to drink poison, because 
he aroused the anger of powerful nobles. He was kept in this 
prison till his death. 



48 



THE AGE OF PERICLES 

ABOUT 475 TO 450 B. C. 

A MARVELOUS growth of the arts now 
flourished in Athens. Her citizens were 
free. Her slaves performed all labor. 
Her income from mines, trades, and 
tribute was so great that every citizen of 
intelhgence could pursue any vocation 
he chose, supported well by the pubHc 
funds. 

Pericles was the great man, who left 
his name stamped so deeply upon Athen- 
ian life, that the period is called the age 
of Pericles. 

Pericles loved the arts, and gave rich 
rewards from pubhc funds to painters, 
sculptors, builders, poets, playwrights, 
orators, and all who could contribute to 
the cultivated pleasure of the city. 

The tribute money, levied once to 

49 



secure protection from Persia, was now 
used freely to make Athens a spot of 
enchanting beauty. She did her part 
in keeping the Aegean safe, and she 
claimed the right to use the tribute money 
as she chose. 

During this brief period, of hardly 
twenty years, wonderful temples, statues, 
paintings, works of carving, and art of 
every kind were produced. Poetry and 
oratory rose to heights equalled hardly 
ever in the history of the world. 

The Athenian citizens were rich and 
free from labor. One would suppose this 
to be the most fortunate, the happiest 
city in the world. But in the midst of 
this good fortune, if an Athenian had been 
asked the question: *'Are you serving 
others, or making others serve you?" 
he must have answered, * We are making 
others serve us." 



60 



THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
LEADS TO WAR 

461 B. C. 

The story of Sparta ends in destruction 
because she always tried to make others 
serve her. Athens, while she was serving 
others, and helping other cities, grew and 
prospered. When she found pleasure 
in her ease and comfort, and made 
others subject to her, jealousy and 
hatred took the place of respect and 
gratitude. 

As Athens was completing her empire, 
Sparta, more jealous than ever, saw the 
opportunity to win over many cities that 
Athens held forcibly beneath her rule. 

When Athens saw what Sparta was 
trying to do, war was declared. Battle 
followed battle, until the wars covered 

51 



the whole Peloponnesus, and these were 
called the Peloponnesian wars. 

Enemies who had been awaiting their 
chance, now attacked Athens on every 
side. Persia sent an army against her. 
Egypt also joined in the attack. Sparta 
rejoiced to see the great odds against her 
rival. 

No city ever fought more brilliantly 
and more bravely than did Athens, 
against her many foes. Even the great 
Athens could not hold out. One disaster 
followed another. The Peloponnesian war 
finally left her in 400 B. C. a sacked and 
ruined city. Never again did Athens 
raise her head as a power in ancient 
Greece. 

Athens had a brief and glorious existence. 
It is said that she brought forth more 
great men in the seventy years of her 
leadership than all the world has ever 
produced in a period as short as that. 

Athens proved the possibilities of 
democracy, showing its weakness and its 
strength. 

52 • 



She left a rich heritage of government 
and art to succeeding generations. 

For centuries to come men will seek 
the history of Athens to gain light upon 
the path which all civilization must tread. 




PIRAEUS. THE HARBOR PORT OF ATHENS 



53 



PHILIP AND ALEXANDER 

338 B. C. 

When Athens and Sparta had finally 
managed to destroy each other, and also 
the cities that shared their fortunes, 
there was anarchy in Greece. No govern- 
ment strong enough to afford protection 
or control remained. 

North of Greece lay Macedonia, and 
from this land came the power to wield 
the fragments of Greece into a new 
empire. 

Philip of Macedonia was crafty, ambi- 
tious, and knew how to manage men. He 
was determined to secure the power that 
Sparta and Athens had striven for in 
vain. 

Step by step Philip got ready for the 
conquest. There were no councils to 
consult, no votes to be taken, no jealous 
factions in his land. He was sole 

54 



monarch; his rule was single; and what 
he wished he ordered to have done. 

When his spies and messengers said 
that all was ready, Philip invaded Greece. 
He easily overcame all who opposed him, 
and punished without mercy those who 
disobeyed his command. 

Philip had learned much, however, 
from the history of cities like Sparta. 

''If you will obey me," he said to the 
people he conquered, "I will treat you 
well. You shall not be made slaves, but 
will be happier, and better off, under my 
rule, than you have been before." 

The people had felt his power, and 
knew they must obey or die; so they 
obeyed, and soon the Greek cities were 
unified under a stern, but generous rule, 
and were, as Philip had promised, happier 
and better off than they had been before. 

Philip lived only a year or two after 
the conquest of Greece. He left his 
kingdom, his army, and his great ambi- 
tion, to his son Alexander. 

Alexander the Great, then only a 

55 



young man, finished the work of Philip 
in Greece, and when his rule in that 
country was well organized, he deter- 
mined to spread his kingdom to the east. 

Now Persia was to see an army of 
Greeks invade her country. The army 
of Alexander was hardly a tenth as 
great as that sent forth by Xerxes to 
invade Greece, but every man was a 
soldier, trained to his work. 

When the Persians gathered a great 
army at Issus, Alexander had his men, 
armed with long heavy spears, stand close 
together in a wedge-shaped formation. 
The Persians could not break that living 
wall of spears, which was called the Mace- 
donain phalanx. They fought a while 
and then fled. 

At Arbela, the Persians again mustered 
vast forces, of nearly a million men, to 
crush the phalanx of Alexander, but 
the result was the same. Thousands 
died in battle; the rest were scattered in 
flight. 

After this, no great resistance was 

56 



offered to Alexander, and his wonderful 
army of Greeks. Province after province 
was overcome. 

For thirteen years Alexander continued 
to spread his rule over the vast land 
of southern Asia. He marched three 
thousand miles into the east, over the 
known kingdoms of the earth, and 
brought all beneath his rule. 

Alexander died, still a young man, at 
Babylon. Those Greeks who marched 
with him cared little about life in eastern 
lands. Just as the Persians who followed 
Xerxes into Greece at his command, 
returned to their own land as soon as 
they could, so the Greeks, who had 
followed the victorious Alexander, re- 
turned again to Greece, after his death, 
and left the eastern peoples to their own 
ways of life. 

In Greece a hundred petty rulers 
sprang up to claim the power of 
Alexander, and all was jealousy and 
strife once more. This lasted nearly a 
hundred years. Then an invasion, even 

57 



more dreaded than that of the Persians 
under Xerxes, in 480 B. C, once more 
made the Greeks join hands for self- 
protection. 




MELPOMENE. THE MUSE OF TRAGEDY 

68 



INVASION OF THE GAULS 

ACHAEAN LEAGUE 250 B. C. 

The Gauls, a barbarous, bold, and 
persistent race, from those lands where 
France and Germany now lie, had for 
many years been moving down into Italy 
and the warm, sunny lands near the 
Mediterranean Sea. 

About 250 B. C. the Greeks realized 
that if they did not all join hands in 
defence, they would all be swept away 
before this tribe of barbarians, that 
spared no one in its path. 

Little Achaea, a city on the Gulf of 
Corinth, was then the leader of a small 
league of cities round about her. Rapidly 
this league grew, just as the Confederacy 
of Delos had grown two hundred years 
before. 

The Achaean League was democratic 
in form, managed by a president and a 

59 



secretary, with a council of ten. Twice a 
year a general assembly met to decide 
important policies and questions of state. 

While the fear of the Gauls kept the 
Greeks close behind their walls, they met 
regularly in conference, and the League 
flourished, but when the tide of Gauls 
flowed on, over into the fertile lands of 
Asia Minor, where there was room enough 
for all, the Greek cities drew apart, 
jealousy crept in, and strife began. 

The Achaean League broke up, just as 
the Confederacy of Delos had broken, 
when fear of invasion had passed. It 
was born in mutual service, and destroyed 
through jealousy and greed. 

After this there was no power in Greece 
to repel an invader. Each city sought 
its own ends, and the needs of the Greek 
nation were forgotten. 

Across the Adriatic sea was a new 
power that had seen the discord in Greece, 
and wanted the Greek lands, as well as 
the Greek trade, for her own development. 
This power was Rome. 

60 



GREECE A ROMAN PROVINCE 

146 B. C. 

Rome, the new power across the 
Adriatic, now began to take charge of 
Grecian affairs. City after city was 
attacked, and reduced to Roman rule by 
fire, and sword, and slavery. 

Had the Greeks been willing to live as 
subjects of Rome, they might have 
prospered far more than they did while 
fighting among themselves. 

But the Greeks could not bear life with 
masters of any other nation above them. 
The Roman government was the best that 
then existed, much better than that 
provided in Greece herself. Still, the 
Roman rule placed them in servitude, 
and the Greeks could not bear servitude. 

The spirit of revolt spread abroad, and 
the Greeks revolted against Rome. It 

61 



was in vain; the Roman soldiers were 
the best fighters in the world. 

To punish these rebels, Rome brought 
Greece so low that to this day she has 
remained poor and weak among the 
nations. 

As a Roman province Greece had a 
period of peace such as she had never 
known in all her history. The Greeks 
were, in general, well governed. Schools 
were encouraged, and her scholars were 
treated with respect. But she was only a 
subject state, a humble province. 




AJAX WITH HIS WONDERFUL HELMET 

62 



THE CHRISTIAN ERA 

Christianity brought a new hope and 
a new vision to the Greeks. They loved 
new ideas always, and here was a new 
form of thought and teaching. They 
were downtrodden and lonely, and here 
was brotherhood and consolation. They 
were slaves of a despotic power, and here 
was promise of a freedom no despot could 
ever enchain. They had looked back 
with regret and forward with gloom, and 
here were promises of a future, for those 
who would believe, brighter than imagi- 
nation could devise. 

The Greeks, by their habit of thought, 
were ready for this religion of service and 
democracy. Through the terrible cen- 
turies to come it was to bind them 
together, and save them from complete 
extinction, which, without this common 
tie, must have been their fate. 

63 



The .great Roman empire flourished 
during more than four centuries, and 
ruled Greece as a province. Then the 
Roman empire began to decay. Bands of 
barbarians from the north threatened the 
city of Rome itself, so Constantine, then 
the Roman emperor, in 330 A. D., moved 
his capital into Greece. 

Byzantium, a great city on the Bos- 
porus, at the entrance of the Black Sea, 
was chosen as the new capital, in place of 
Rome. • Constantine, in honor of himself, 
called it Constantinople. 

The Roman emperors, when they came 
to Greece to rule in Constantinople, 
planned to spread the Roman customs, 
laws, and language throughout Greece. 

Greek customs and language, however, 
were so useful and beautiful, that, where 
the Roman and Greeks came in contact, 
the Romans often adopted the Greek 
customs, and took pleasure in learning 
their language. 

The Greeks had to obey, and use the 
Roman laws, but Greece, bowed as she 

64 



was before Roman power, lost few of her 
national attributes, and even Constan- 
tinople remained a Greek city. 




THE WINGED VICTORY 

65 



INVASION BY GOTHS 
AND HUNS 

400 A. D. 

The Goths, a warlike tribe that lived 
north of the Danube, feared invasion by 
the Huns, a still more savage race, in 
western Asia. About the year 375, the 
Goths began moving across the Danube 
into the northern regions of Greece. 

"Stop!" ordered the Romans, ''This 
is our province. You cannot get in 
here." 

''But," replied the Goths, "we must 
move somewhere, for behind us are 
terrible people, the Huns, who will kill 
us all if we remain." 

Had the Romans found a way to make 
friends with these Goths, they might 
have joined forces to save themselves 
from the Huns, but this was not to be. 

After the Goths and the Romans had 

66 



been fighting for some years, and 
thousands of the best soldiers on both 
sides had been killed, the Huns them- 
selves appeared on the Danube. With 
their best soldiers dead, the Romans and 
Goths could not resist. 

Greece, which had suffered greatly 
from the Goths, was now to suffer twice 
as much from the Huns. 

Attila, the leader of these Huns, was 
one of the most terrible leaders in 
history. He left smoking ruins and 
wasted fields wherever he went. He 
killed men, women, and children without 
mercy. 

For another century, Greece became 
a scene of battle and desolation. Great 
spaces were left uninhabited. Roads 
were neglected, and improvements left 
in ruins. Finally, when the savage Huns, 
who cared only to conquer and kill, 
receded, Greece was but a skeleton. 



67 



SLAVONIAN INVASION 

500 

By the year 476, when the western 
part of the Roman Empire was breaking 
to pieces, another race, seeing that Rome 
could no longer defend her provinces, 
and longing for the warm and fertile 
fields of Greece, started to move in. 

These newcomers were Slavonians. 
They had moved gradually from the 
vast regions, where Russia now lies. 
Gradually they worked down into Greece, ' 
unchecked by any armies, till they came 
to the walled cities, in the mountain 
regions of the south. 

The Slavonians wished for peaceful 
homes, not for fighting, and settled on 
the empty lands. The migration con- 
tinued for about four centuries. Then 
the great Slavonian horde moved off 
again, gradually, as they had come* 

68 



THE CRUSADERS FROM THE 
WEST OVERRUN GREECE 

1100 

About the year iioo, the people of 
England, France, and Italy, felt a longing 
for adventure. A religious revival swept 
over these countries. 

Thousands of these excited people 
joined in bands of crusaders, or pilgrims, 
to go into Palestine and rescue the holy 
places of Bible history from the Turks, 
who then ruled over this land. 

Starting out from western Europe, 
these bands found their way eastward 
along the Mediterranean sea. Some 
sailed from southern ports directly to the 
shores of Asia Minor, where they battled 
with the Turks for possession of the 
holy places. Others marched along the 
shore. 

In marching round the shores, many 

69 



of these crusaders were greatly delighted 
with Greece. 

''Whoever dreamed of such a wonderful 
land!" they cried, ''Such blue skies, such 
green fields, such grapes and wine! This 
is an adventure worth while. Let us 
capture these cities. They are worth 
more than Palestine." 

Poor Greece! Her cities had been 
spared by the Slavonians, and were 
struggling back to a condition of small 
prosperity. Now Thebes, Athens, Corinth, 
and many smaller cities, fell before these 
western conquerors, and were sacked with 
great cruelty. 

The Greeks found these Crusaders, 
who declared their pilgrimage was for 
the sake of their religion, not a bit less 
cruel and greedy then the Goths and 
Huns had been. 

At last Constantinople itself was 
captured, nearly destroyed by fire, and 
ruled till about 1450 by these western 
princes. 

The "Dukedom of Athens," during 

70 



this period, is like a dream to the reader 
of Greek history. Athens, the resort of 
the gayest knights of those ages, saw 
games of chivalry, tilts, jousts, tourna- 
ments, and ceremonies of knighthood, 
rehearsed among her classic ruins. 

The Crusaders strove to teach the 
Greeks their customs and their language, 
which they thought to be the best in the 
world for all peoples. 

These gay cavaliers, basking in the 
sunshine of Greece, planned to make it 
once more the jewel in the crown of 
nations, but before long they passed out 
of her history, as the Goths and Huns and 
Romans and Slavonians had passed. 

The Crusaders left only a few ruined 
castles, here and there, on the hilltops 
of Greece, which contrast strangely with 
the ruins of ancient times. 



71 



GREECE UNDER A TURKISH 
YOKE 

1453 

The Turks first appear in history soon 
after the fall of Rome, about the year 500. 
They are a Tartar race, from the great 
steppes of Asia. 

The Goths, Huns, and Slavonians had 
come down from the north. The Turks 
worked their way across from the regions 
about the Caspian sea, till, in the periods 
of the Crusaders, the eleventh and 
twelfth centuries, they were found in 
control of much land east of the Mediter- 
ranean. 

Mohammed H planned to gain power 
for his people by any means he could. 
He decided ^t once to capture Con- 
stantinople and conquer Greece, for 
Constantinople was a rich center of 
trade, and Greece, with her orchards and 

72 



vineyards was a prize that all were eager 
to grasp. 

Poor Greece! Sacked by Goths, Huns, 
Romans, Slavonians, and last but not 
least, by the Crusaders, she had no 
strength to repel the fierce Turks. 

Mohammed II did just as he had 
planned. He stormed Constantinople, 
and ordered his men to kill every human 
being of the Christian population that 
came in their path. 

Now began a long, long period of 
darkest misery for Greece. The Turks 
not only destroyed all that Greece had 
been patiently building, but determined 
to kill, if they could, the Christian 
population wherever their rule extended. 

The Turkish desire to destroy was 
fulfilled completely. All roads, bridges, 
towns, temples, and buildings in their 
path that could be ruined without too 
much labor, were destroyed, and kept 
in destruction. 

The Turkish desire to kill every 
Christian was checked by fear of other 

73 



European powers. Turkey feared they 
might attack her and drive her people 
out of Greece again if she went too far, 
so she spared part of the native people. 

Strange as it might seem, the Turks 
let their savage desire to destroy, ruin 
even their own hopes of prosperity. 
Wasted fields can yield no harvests; 
ruined towns can bring little tribute; 
but the Turk has never troubled about 
this. Destruction was his purpose; the 
rest was left to fate. 

The Turkish Janissaries were bands of 
soldiers, directly under the command of 
the Turkish sultan. The Janissaries were • 
recruited from Christian children. At 
first they were captured in war. When 
Greece was subdued, the Christian popu- 
lation was forced to send them as a 
tax. 

These children were torn from their 
parents while very young, taken away 
and trained in the Moslem faith, and the 
arts of war. At manhood they never 
knew whose children they were, and then 

74 



they served the Turks to overcome their 
own kindred, to slaughter them or keep 
them in slavery. 

This band of Janissaries at last grew 
so powerful that the Sultan himself 
became afraid. He called in his Turkish 
troops, surrounded nearly thirty thousand 
Janissaries in their barracks, set the 
buildings ablaze, and killed the entire 
troop. 

So ended, about a century ago, one of 
the most famous soldier groups that 
ever existed. 

For three centuries, after 1500, all 
'pictures of Greece seem about the 
same. Ground beneath the tyranny of 
a heartless and brainless people, she still 
managed to keep certain national traits 
and traditions alive. Revolts were 
frequent, but the national existence and 
spirit was utterly crushed. 

As time rolled on, a new spirit spread 
in the world. America declared her 
freedom, and won liberty for her people 
by the Revolution. France was throwing 

75 



off the yoke of tyranny. The soul of 
Greece began to stir. 

Whispers of Hberty were born on the 
breeze that blew from Crete to Thessaly. 
Messages from the western world urged 
the Greeks to strike. The time for 
which Greece had waited so long was 
at hand. 




VENIZELOS 
One of the greatest statesmen of today. 

76 



GREECE BEGINS HER 
REVOLUTION 

1821 

In 1 82 1 a revolt began in Greece that 
swept over the whole country. As the 
Turks had killed all in their path when 
they conquered Greece, so now the 
Greeks, in their turn, fell upon their 
Moslem neighbors and killed everyone 
they could. Men, women, and children 
were killed without mercy on both sides. 

Greeks living in western nations 
aroused interest in the struggles of their 
native land. The people of England 
and America raised money and sent help. 
Thousands of her sons in other laads 
returned to set the mother country free. 

Slowly the struggle wore on. Greece 
suffered greatly from her poverty and 
weakness. Her people showed just the 

77 



same qualities they did centuries before, 
in the days of her glory. Bold they 
were, and heroic, dying gladly in brilliant 
battles for their native land; but they 
trusted each other no more than in 
ancient times. 

Again and again the Greeks placed 
the whole cause on the verge of ruin by 
their distrust and deceit. It was the 
jealous hatred of Athens and Sparta, 
rising again after twenty centuries. 

Byron, the great English poet, and 
other men of note, from America, France, 
and England, helped save Greece from 
destruction by these jealous quarrels. 
They gave good counsel. They led her 
armies. They held her jealous chiefs 
together. 

With noble and heroic citizens among 
the Greeks, these adventurous spirits 
carried on the war, in the face of great 
odds and disappointment. 

Turkey herself finally lost the cause to 
Greece through her stupid acts. Turkey 
was crafty, but Turkey was ignorant. 

78 



She roused the anger of Fraace, England 
and Russia by her insults and abuse. 

In return for her insults, the English 
fleet destroyed the Turkish navy. Russia 
declared war upon the Turks. Unable to 
fight the Greeks and Russia at once, with 
a crippled navy, the Turks withdrew 
their forces from Greece. 

So, after enduring for eight years, the 
war came to an end, and Greece could 
declare herself free. 




THE MEETING OF AENEAS AND DIDO 

79 



GREECE A NATION AT LAST 

Never in her history had Greece been 
a nation, under one government. In 
the old days cities ruled themselves. 
Then there were a dozen kings and 
rulers in Greece. After that came the 
conquests, that broke the national spirit 
and character of her people. Now, the 
yoke of the Turks thrown off, Greece 
determined to have a constitution, and 
live as one nation. 

Prince Otho of Bavaria was at length 
selected to be king of the new Greece. 
A man from another nation was chosen 
because no Greek could be found 
suitable to the European nations and to 
the Greeks themselves. 

The new king and the people did not 
get on well together. The king wanted 
to rule just as he pleased. He said the 

80 



Greeks were mere children and didn*t 
know what they wanted. The Greeks 
declared that they were being cheated 
out of their constitution. 

The Greeks stood it ten years; then, 
by a revolt, that fortunately was blood- 
less, they frightened King Otho and won a 
constitution, and a right to share in their 
own government. 

Again hope rose in Grecian hearts, but 
they struggled under enormous difficulties. 
The country was impoverished. The 
western countries had loaned them money 
at such heavy rates that even in pros- 
perity they could hardly have paid. 

To make matters worse, the powers 
who fixed the new boundaries between 
Greece and Turkey, left much of the 
best territory, in the north of Greece, 
with a large Grecian population, still 
in the hands of the Turks. 

Things went from bad to worse. The 
government failed to keep order. Brig- 
ands and robbers increased, and discontent 
grew more sharp. The diplomats of 

81 



Europe, instead of helping, jealously tried 
to get advantage for their own countries. 
The whole situation was almost im- 
possible. 

In 1862, when our own civil war was 
raging, Greece once again revolted. 
King Otho was turned out, and King 
George, another prince from central 
Europe, was made constitutional King 
of Greece. 

The struggle for existence bore fruit 
slowly. Boundaries were widened, the 
national spirit rose, the grip of Turkey 
was loosened more and more, and 
prosperity gradually increased. 

Every Greek longed for the day when 
Macedonia and Thrace should belong 
to them, and Greece could hold up her 
head among the nations. 

At last, after many mishaps and 
disappointments in her government, a 
great man arose, Venizelos, a statesman 
and patriot. In 1909 Venizelos, a native 
of Crete, became the leading statesman 
of Greece. 

82 



Venlzelos quickly won the trust of 
his compatriots, and the honor of the 
Europeans. Rapidly he led his country 
upwards. The army and navy were 
built up and drilled. The treasury was 
replenished. National credit was 

established. Greece won the respect of 
European nations, who had long trifled 
with her destinies. 

Venizelos dreamed of freedom for his 
country, but he was determined that 
she must take one step at a time, pay 
her way, and prove her right to govern 
by the performance of her duties as a 
nation. 

This course prepared Greece to guide 
her destinies in the great events before 
her, and make her dreams come true. 

The Balkan war, in 19 12, opened the 
way for the new kingdom of Greece. 

Four kingdoms had been growing to the 
north of Greece. These were Servia, 
Roumania, Bulgaria, and Montenegro. 
Together they joined with Greece in an 
attack on Turkey, the common foe. 

83 



In a few months, Turkey had given 
up her claims to most of the land west of 
Constantinople. Greece saw the cloud 
lifting. The Thracian and Macedonian 
provinces were to be hers at last. 

Bulgaria had planned, however, to take 
these provinces herself. Greece realized 
that she must fight again if she wished 
to hold her northern provinces of Thrace 
and Macedonia. 

A few weeks after the war with Turkey 
had ended, the Greek army was prepared 
for the fresh struggle. Bulgaria at- 
tacked, but was so quickly thrown back 
by the devoted Greeks that she was 
glad, after four weeks of fighting, to 
give up her plans, and Greece threw out 
her boundaries almost to the limits her 
hopes had drawn for the new kingdom. 




THE RACE OF ATALANTA 

84 



GREECE IN THE GREAT WAR 

Soon after the Balkan war had ended, 
an event occurred that brought Greece 
once more into the whirlwind of battle. 

Germany was a country whose fortunes 
had gradually been linked to those of 
Greece. King Otho had been of German 
family. King George was of German 
blood. Constantine, the son of King 
George, was now on the throne. 

Hardly had the Balkan war stopped, 
when Germany began to carry out a 
scheme that she had been planning for 
many years. Germany wished to control 
a wide belt of territory stretching south- 
east through Servia, Greece, Turkey, 
Asia Minor, clear to India. 

In 19 1 4-, two years after Greece had 
won so much by the Balkan War, the 
great war opened by which Germany 
hoped to win her empire to the east. 

85 



Turkey and Bulgaria turned out to be 
allies of Germany. What would Greece 
do? King Constantine had married a 
German wife, a sister of the Kaiser. He 
naturally sided with Germany. 

Turkey on one side, and Bulgaria on 
the other, were deadly enemies to face, 
if she should turn against their German 
ally. On the other hand the great navies 
of England and France would have her at 
their mercy if she offended them. 

Venizelos, her great statesman, held 
Greece back with all his power from 
joining Germany. It might be that 
she could remain neutral, and keep what 
she had gained. 

The unstable Greeks found it hard 
to decide. One day they cheered for 
Constantine; the next day they cheered 
for Venizelos with equal joy. 

After two years of balancing, back and 
forth, the party of Venizelos prevailed. 
Constantine was driven from the 
country with his German wife. Still 
the allies in western Europe dared not 

86 



trust the Greeks, who seemed as fickle 
as ever. 

England and France, with their navies 
in the Aegean sea, urged Greece to join 
their side. It looked as if the western 
allies were going to win, so the Greeks, 
with their usual good nature, let the 
allies have their own way. 

This act was fortunate for Greece. 
Venizelos soon came to a good under- 
standing with the Western Allies. Greece 
gave some aid in ending the war, and 
went to the peace table at Paris as a friend 
of the winning side. 

Thus Greece, at last, gained the right 
and territory her history and situation 
gave her reason to expect. 

In another year an interesting event 
occurred. Governed by her constitution, 
in a democratic way, it came time for 
elections. Friends of Constantine urged 
the Greeks to elect him to be their king 
again. 

This question was put on the ballot. 
The elections took place. A great 

87 



majority voted for Constantine, and 
against Venizelos. The dangers from 
which this great leader had saved them 
were forgotten, and the return of 
Constantine was hailed with joy all over 
the land. 




SOLDIERS IN THE RUINS OF A CHURCH 



88 



ROME 

As the power of Sparta was waning, 
and while Athens was ruHng in full glory 
in Greece, a new power was growing on 
the large peninsula across the Adriatic 
sea. This was Rome. 

Rome was a city on the western coast, 
near the middle of the Italian peninsula. 
Around her she was gathering smaller 
towns, subject to her rule. 

The southern part of the peninsula 
was occupied by Greeks, who had sailed 
across the Adriatic to find new homes in 
this warm, fertile, sunny land. 

North of Rome lay another race, the 
Etruscans. 

At this early date, while Rome was 
small, the people in the central part of 
the peninsula were called Italians, and 
from them the country got its name, kaly, 
in later years. 

89 



When Rome grew great, these people 
called themselves Romans, but gradually 
took the name of Italians again after 
the Empire of Rome fell apart. 

There were other race groups in Italy 
at this time, but the Greeks, the Italians, 
and the Etruscans were then the most 
important. 

Italy, like Greece, is full of mountains 
and valleys, so the inhabitants gathered 
for convenience and defence into cities 
and walled towns. 

Nearly all the good lands and harbors 
of Italy lay on the west, while those of 
Greece lay to the east, so the two 
countries grew with their backs turned to 
each other. 




IN A GARDEN OF ITALY 

90 



ROME BEGINS HER GROWTH 

ABOUT 400 B. C. 

The Etruscans, to the north of Rome, 
were rich. They had developed orchards 
and vineyards, grazing lands and grain 
fields. Rome looked on these rich lands 
just as Sparta had viewed those of 
Messenia. She was eager to have them 
for her own. 

In those days, if one race wanted what 
belonged to another race, she waited for 
a good chance, and then took possession. 
The Romans had waited, and about 400 
B.C. their chance came. ' 

North of Etruria, in the land now 
occupied by France, lived the Gauls. 
About 400 B. C. the Gauls attacked the 
Etruscans. 

Seeing these wild tribes advancing upon 
them, the Etruscans begged Rome to help. 
In reply, the Romans mustered their 

91 



armies, marched north, and attacked the 
Etruscans from their side. 

The Etruscans could offer little resist- 
ance. City after city fell before the 
exhulting soldiers from Rome, and rich 
booty, in improved lands, art, and treas- 
ure, fell into their hands. 

Before this double enemy the Etruscans 
were crushed. They had advanced to a 
point in civilization almost equal to that 
of the Greeks, but after this they disap- 
peared from the view of history. 

Many of the Etruscan art treasures 
and records have been found, but no one 
has yet learned to read their writings. 
The story of the Etruscan people still 
remains to be discovered. 

Rome had helped the Gauls to an easy 
victory over the Etruscans. Made bold 
with this success, the Gauls pushed on 
slowly to the south, and before long 
advanced upon Rome itself. 

The fame of the Gallic warriors was 
great and terrible, and the Roman soldiers 
fled before them. At last, when the 

92 



Gauls appeared at the gates of Rome, 
many Romans fled across the Tiber 
River, which flowed south of the city; 
while the bravest retired behind the walls 
of the citadel, a high, rocky mound near 
the center of Rome. 

Now all the rich booty, won at such cost 
of blood, was lost again. Their homes 
were ruined, their fields ravaged, and 
nearly all their ancient records were 
destroyed. 

For a long time the soldiers In the 
citadel held out. Then those who had 
fled plucked up their courage, attacked 
the Gauls, and beat them. 

Thus the wave of barbarians was 
rolled back again, and the Romans could 
rebuild their sacred city. 

The records of Roman history before 
390, when the Gauls sacked the city, 
were so completely destroyed that stories 
of Roman events before that time are 
mostly fables. 

Only a few written laws remained. 
From these the historians are able to tell 

93 



much of the social life of the time when 
they were written, about fifty years 
before. These laws were called the 
Twelve Tables. - 

The Twelve Tables showed the first 
efforts in Rome to write down the laws, 
and keep them where all might read. 
They were terribly severe on the poor, 
and everything favored the ruling class. 

Under the Twelve Tables, debtors 
might be sold as slaves, and slaves might 
be killed by cruel masters, who held all 
power, even to life and death, over their 
families, servants, and slaves. 




Courtesy Raymond & Whitcomb 

ROMAN CATTLE 

94 



SOCIAL PROGRESS 

After the sack of Rome by the Gauls, 
in 390 B. C., the ruHng classes, called 
Patricans, lost some of their arrogance. 
They realized that they must win the 
support of the poorer people, called 
Plebeians, for most of the soldiers came 
from this class. 

In Rome there was a small body of 
patricians who wanted all wealth and 
power. Under them was the large group 
of Plebeians, or common people, who had 
few rights. In the eyes of the Patricians 
they were only tax-bearing animals. 

Below these two groups were the 
wretched slaves, who were often treated 
with terrible cruelty. 

But when the Twelve Tables of laws 
'came hito operation, it became clear to 

95 



all how unjust and cruel they were. The 
Plebeians threatened to revolt unless they 
received better treatment. 

As the Patricians expected war with 
other tribes, they dared not refuse to 
make reforms. Gradually, as their sol- 
diers won victories, and gained greater 
power, greater rights and privileges were 
wrung from the Patricians. These were 
embodied in the Licinian Laws. 

The Licinian Laws showed a great 
advance for the Plebeians since the 
Gallic invasion. 

For many years Rome had been gov- 
erned by two Consuls, chosen from the 
Patricians. These ruled almost as kings. 
The Plebeians could elect two Tribunes. 
They were below the Consuls but they 
might sit in the senate and could veto 
laws hurtful to the people. 

The next step gave the Plebeians the 
right to have one of the two consuls from 
their ranks, and gave power to the 
Tribunes almost as great as the Consuls. 

But always, by some scheme or other, 

96 



the Patricians managed to keep the upper 
hand. They now instituted a new officer, 
that of Censor. 

The Censors were selected from the 
Patrician group. They took the census 
of citizens and property, putting each 
man in any rank they saw fit. 

The Censors could rebuke any one for 
bad conduct, degrade a noble, expel a 
member from the senate, or strike 
names from the rolls of Roman Citizen- 
ship. 

Thus the Patricians were forced, from 
time to time, to improve the condition 
of the Plebeians, but always managed to 
keep the real power in their own hands. 

Perhaps the chief reason for the con- 
tinued power of the rich was the behavior 
of the Plebeians, when they gained wealth 
and power. Instead of doing their ut- 
most to help their own class, they usually 
outdid the Patricians themselves in their 
efforts to crowd back other ambitious 
ones and keep them down in the ranks of 
poverty. 

97 



REVOLT OF THE LATIN CITIES 

ABOUT 340 B. C. 

Latium was that part of Italy where 
Rome lay. Round about her, several 
Latin cities had been gathered into a 
group of allies by Rome, but they began 
to fear her greed, and to hate her tyranny. 

In the city of Rome the Plebeians had 
won much freedom, which they valued 
greatly, but they joined the Roman 
Patricians in declaring that the Latin 
Allies should be managed just as Rome 
saw fit. ^ 

The Roman ideas seemed much like 
those of Greek cities: freedom for them- 
selves, slavery for others. 

After some years of bitter complaint, 
the Latin cities revolted. Rome attacked 
them and soon brought them all to 
submission. 

In her treatment of the conquered 

98 



cities, Rome showed the constructive 
power that was to make her great. 

Sparta had ground her conquered 
neighbors into the dust. Athens left 
the subject cities in her empire prostrate 
and helpless, dependent on her power. 

Alexander the Great was wiser. He 
built up conquered cities, and, while the 
dread of the Phalanx was over them, they 
flourished and were at peace. 

Rome understood even better than 
Alexander that only by having strong, 
successful allies, or subject cities, could 
the Roman Empire be strong and success- 
ful itself. 

For this reason Rome granted many 
rights and privileges to these conquered 
people. They lived under conditions far 
better than those of most free peoples of 
that day, and many of their men were 
given full rights as Roman citizens. 



99 



ALL ROADS LED TO ROME 

Although Rome intended to develop 
her allied and subject cities, she did not 
intend that they should flourish at her 
expense, so she planned her vast system 
of roads to suit herself. 

The roads of Italy had been mere tracks 
in the mud, or paths over the rocks. 
Rome set her thousands of slaves to 
work laying out straight, smooth roads 
constructed of rock, and so well built 
that many of them are in use today. 

These highways, however, went out 
from Rome in all directions like spokes 
from the hub of a wheel. 

Her allies found trade with Rome easy, 
over these smooth roads, but almost 
impossible with each other, for the good 
roads led only to Rome. 

For this reason it was easy to forbid 
trade between these cities. Rome also 

100 



restricted marriage between these allied 
cities to a large extent. 

In this way she prevented new com- 
binations against her own control. 




Copyright, Edward Crosby Doughty. 

A ROMAN ROAD NEAR TUSCULUM 
Built by the emperors, of heavy stone, these roads seem everlasting 

101 



WARS FOR CONQUEST 

The Samnite wars marked the struggle 
that took place while Rome was making 
her conquests in central Italy secure. 
They lasted from about 340 to 290 B. C. 

The Samnites, a bold, hardy people, 
refused to be subject to Rome. They 
found many Gallic and Etruscan tribes 
glad to join them against Rome, whose 
greed and ambition threatened all alike. 

Rome had a hard struggle. Several 
times she made hasty treaties of peace, 
when her armies faced disaster, but 
these treaties were quickly broken when 
Rome felt safe once more. 

At last, in 290 B. C, Rome emerged 
triumphant. Central Italy was desolated. 
Cities, towns, villages, fields, were laid 
waste. Thousands of Gauls, Etruscans, 
and Samnites, men, women, and children, 
were slaves of the Romans. 

102 



Tarentum, a rich Greek city on the 
southern shore of Italy, held sway over 
the southern district. Rome determined 
to control all Italy. Tarentum blocked 
her conquest in the south, so Tarentum 
must be destroyed. 

The Greek cities had always found a 
cause for war when they wished for war. 
Now Rome also found what seemed to her 
a good reason to attack the people of 
Tarentum, who were probably doing little 
harm to Rome, so her armies marched 
south. 

Pyrrus, King of Epirus, in Greece, and 
a cousin to Alexander the Great, saw the 
danger of losing an important Greek 
colony in Italy, and offered to help the 
people of Tarentum. 

Tarentum received his aid, and wel- 
comed his arrival with joy. The Romans 
now found a great danger where they 
expected an easy victory. 

Pyrrus had a number of elephants, 
trained for war, which drove the Roman 
soldiers back in fright. Pyrrus, a great 

103 



fighter, won many battles, but he found 
it impossible to organize the Greeks of 
southern Italy into a solid community, 
ready to help and support each other. 

As his army dwindled, and the Romans 
still fought, Pyrrus saw that the cause 
was hopeless. The Greeks of Tarentum 
would not submit to any hardship or 
discipline, so Pyrrus gave up in disgust 
and embarked for Greece. 

The Romans then attacked with double 
fury and, in 272 B. C., Tarentum was 
forced to submit, and Rome became 
mistress of the whole peninsula, south of 
the Arnus river. 




Courtesy Raymond O Whitcomb. 

KUINS OF A ROMAN PALACE. SICILY 

104 



THE WARS WITH CARTHAGE 

264 TO 164 B. C. 

Rome had now gained control of the 
ItaHan peninsula. Just across the Medi- 
terranean sea, not three days sail from 
Rome, lay Carthage, a rich and powerful 
city. 

Her civilization was older than that 
of Rome, her wealth was greater, and 
her trade, that Rome envied most of 
all, embraced the whole Mediterranean, 
where the navy of Carthage held com- 
plete mastery. 

Both Rome and Carthage now laid 
claim to Sicily. To make good her claim, 
Rome sent an army to hold the island. 
Carthage also sent soldiers, and this 
brought on the first of three wars with 
Carthage, called in history the Punic 
wars, from the name given these people 
by the Romans. 

Carthage owned a proud navy, with 

105 



no rivals upon the sea. Rome had never 
fought upon the water, had no navy at 
all, and knew little about ships. 

Rome knew, however, that to fight 
with Carthage she must have ships. 
With her usual energy she set to work, 
and soon Carthage was astonished to 
learn that a Roman fleet was ready for 
battle. 

Little alarmed by this, Carthage sent 
out her splendid navy to crush the new 
Roman fleet. 

The wily Romans had plans quite new 
to the Carthagenians. They were pro- 
vided with long poles, hooked at the ends. 
Sailing swiftly upon the galleys from 
Carthage, they grappled them and threw 
out gangways. Then, running across 
these light bridges, they overcame the 
enemy upon their own decks. 

Dazzled with this complete success, 
Rome followed it up with great zeal. 
An army set out for Africa, and again 
overcame a powerful Punic fleet on the 
way. 

106 



Once landed near Carthage, the Ro- 
mans gained fresh victories, and Rome 
expected a speedy conquest. Then the 
tide turned. 

Carthage roused herself, and attacked 
the invading Romans so fiercely that 
they fled to the shore in dismay. A 
fleet, which was sent to bear Romans 
home again, was destroyed by a storm, 
so the Romans gave up the African cam- 
paign. 

Sicily now became the battle ground 
again for several years. Gradually Rome 
gained the upper hand there, and 
Carthage, which was never fond of war, 
sued for peace. 

Rome, feeling sure of a final victory, 
refused to make peace. She built more 
vessels, and attacked a large Punic 
fleet off the coast of Sicily, with the 
greatest confidence. Much to her con- 
sternation, her fleet was overwhelmed. 

The Carthagenians had learned how 
to meet the Roman methods of naval 
warfare. 

107 



But Rome was not dismayed. The 
Romans had convinced themselves that 
the vast commerce and wealth of the 
Carthagenians would amply repay all 
their efforts when Rome had won. 
Another great fleet, of nine hundred ships, 
was built at great sacrifice of money 
and labor. This fleet set out in 249 B. C. 
to win back the Roman fortunes, but 
it was soon destroyed, not far from the 
spot where the last Roman fleet had met 
its fate. 

News of this disaster cooled for a time 
the Roman desire for war, and made 
Carthage pluck up her courage. In 
Sicily she won back much territory, and 
even made Rome tremble for her pos- 
sessions in Italy. 

The Roman nobles now showed their 
unquenchable courage. Eight years later 
they built from their own private funds 
still another fleet with which to make one 
further effort against Carthage. 

Again the rivals met. This time for- 
tune favored Rome. The Carthagenian 

108 



fleet was overcome, and Carthage sued 
once more for peace. 

Weary Rome gladly made a treaty, by 
which Carthage paid an indemnity to 
the value of four million dollars, and 
gave up her claims on Sicily. 

This war, begun in 264 and ended in 
241 B. C, had exhausted Rome for the 
time being, and had also crippled the 
Punic sea power. 

Neither Rome nor Carthage intended 
to keep the treaty. Both knew that one 
must fall, as there was no hope that 
such rivals could exist in the Mediter- 
ranean sea. 




Courtesy Raymond G Whitcomb, 

ON LAKE COMO. ITALY 
One 01 the iovdiest lakes in the worki. 

109 



HANNIBAL 

Hamilcar had been the greatest Punic 
general during this long war. He was 
enraged at the treaty, and went at once 
to Spain, then partly colonized by 
Carthage. 

In Spain, Hamilcar began to train fresh 
armies to conquer Rome. Before he 
could do this he died, leaving a son, 
Hannibal, who swore to devote his life to 
the conquest of his country's foe. 

Hannibal soon developed into a won- 
derful leader. Some historians say he 
was the greatest master of strategy who 
ever lived. 

Twenty years after the treaty was 
signed, Hannibal was ready. He was 
then twenty-six. 

With a hundred thousand men, he 
started out in 218 B.Co, across northern 
Spain. His equipment included thirty- 
seven trained war elephants. 

110 



When the army got to the Alps the 
difficulties began. Winter was approach- 
ing; snow was falling in the mountains, 
and freezing storms caused great suffering 
among men used to a warm climate. 

Cutting new roads for his ponderous 
elephants, hauling men and tools up 
dangerous cliffs with ropes, Hannibal 
continued the climb. The hardships were 
terrible, but the great general never 
halted. 

When he had gained the top he 
found the way down even more difficult. 

After many hardships the remnant of 
his army came out upon the plains of 
northern Italy. Of the hundred thou- 
sand men hardly twenty-five thousand 
were left. With this handful of weak, 
starved men, Hannibal planned to attack 
a state that could raise half a million 
soldiers. 

The Romans had organized two armies 
to attack Carthage. One was sent to 
Africa, the other to Spain. 

They never dreamed that Hannibal 

111 



was on their soil, and when his army was 
discovered all was commotion in the city. 

Publius Scipio, who was leading the 
army into Spain, sent his men out to 
stop supplies for Hannibal. This was 
however, wasted effort, for Hannibal 
planned to get his supplies from Italy 
itself. Then Scipio hastened back to 
command a new army in northern Italy. 

The first battle, mostly between the 
cavalry, showed, by the quick defeat of 
the Romans, how dangerous Hannibal 
was. 

Two Roman armies now joined and 
attacked the invader. He pretended to 
retreat, drew them into an ambuscade 
at Trebia, and wiped them out. 

The Gauls had been waiting to pick 
the winning side. These victories led 
them to join the armies of the victorious 
Hannibal. 

With reinforcements of vigorous troops, 
with ample provisions and shelter, his 
figure cast a gloomy shadow over Rome. 
There all was doubt and fear during the 

112 



cold months, while Hannibal was in 
winter quarters. 

The following spring Hannibal led his 
army west across the Apennines, then 
south towards Rome. Once more the 
Romans sent a great army against him. 
He moved back, and the Romans followed. 

One foggy morning Hannibal halted 
by lake Trasimene, withdrew up the 
hillside, and left the road along the lake 
free. 

When the Roman army could be heard 
in the mist below, Hannibal gave the 
order to advance. His veterans charged 
down upon the Roman levies; and that 
da}^ witnessed the doom of another great 
Roman force. 

The way to the capital was now open, 
and Rome expected an attack, but 
Hannibal preferred to stay in the open, 
and he was able to collect immense booty 
from the smaller cities. 

Rome now appointed Fabius, a noted 
general, to be dictator. To a dictator 
was given supreme authority, above 

113 



senate and above consuls. His orders 
must be obeyed without question, and 
the dictatorship was ususally Hmited to 
a few months for fear it might lead to 
tyranny. 

Fabius had studied the methods of 
Hannibal. He realized that the Roman 
army could not meet the Carthaginians 
in a direct conflict, so he followed him 
about, striking sharp blows here and 
there, but always avoiding battle. 

He was so successful in this plan, 
always preserving his forces as a last 
defence to Rome, that his name has 
been given to that type of warfare which 
is called "Fabian." 

A new army was levied, while Fabius 
was gaining time for Rome, which was 
ready the next year to meet Hannibal. 
It was twice the size of the invading 
forces, and the Romans attacked with 
fury, hoping to crush Hannibal at last, 
but the battle at Cannae was a more 
terrible defeat than those which had 
come before. The Romans were nearly 

114 



all killed, and Rome herself was on the 
verge of absolute ruin. 

Hannibal, worn and wearied by the 
war, offered terms of peace, which Rome 
rejected. Again he ravaged the country 
side, and wintered in Capua, south 
Italy, which had deserted Rome and 
joined his fortunes, while most of the 
Latin allies remained faithful to Rome. 

The next spring he marched north, 
laying waste Rome's fairest provinces, 
while Rome instantly attacked Capua, 
her unfaithful ally. She captured the 
city, put the leading men to death, and 
sold all the rest, men, women, and 
children, for slaves. This was the usual 
punishment for those who deserted her 
cause. 

So the terrible contest wore on, till 
Hannibal had been destroying the fields 
and towns of Italy for eleven years. 
His forces were weary, and anxious to 
go home. Rome dared not meet him 
in combat, but refused to make peace. 

In 207 B. C, Hannibal's brother 

115 



Hasdrubal tried to send an army over 
the Alps to his aid. He was caught by 
a Roman army in northern Italy, his 
forces destroyed, and he himself killed. 
His head was thrown into the camp of 
Hannibal, who gave up hope of reducing 
Rome. 

Rome now sent an army under Scipio 
to attack Carthage, and Hannibal was 
recalled to defend the city; but his power 
was exhausted and he suffered defeat. 

Carthage accepted, in 201 B. C, bitter 
terms of peace, and Hannibal soon had 
to commit suicide to escape the hate of 
Rome. His end was ignoble, but his 
fame and glory as a conquering leader of 
armies still remains undimmed. 

Italy had been laid waste, and Rome 
was reduced to desperate straits, while 
Carthage, free from the terrors of war, 
had been growing rich. 

Rome had a heavy task to rebuild her 
fortunes at home. The Greeks and 
Macedonians had helped Hannibal in 
his long campaign, and for this they 

116 



were now attacked, defeated, and terribly 
punished. 

Now Rome hastily built up her armies, 
organized her allies more firmly than 
before, and developed the state into a 
strong, unified community. 

All this time she had kept eyes glowing 
with jealous hatred on her Carthagenian 
rivals. 

Carthage must be destroyed. As 
Romans saw her, rich and prosperous, 
that idea became fixed more than ever 
in their minds. Cato, a stern senator, 
and censor, never ended a speech without 
adding: ''And moreover, Carthage must 
be destroyed." 

One rule forced on Carthage, as the price 
of peace, was that she should makeno war 
without the consent of Rome. Because 
of this her neighbors became bold, and 
raided her rich lands without restraint. 
She asked Rome for permission to pro- 
tect herself, but the Romans always sided 
with the robbers, and encouraged the 
robber hands to greater raids upon her. 

117 



THIRD WAR WITH CARTHAGE 

150 B. C. 

In 150 B. C, Carthage could stand 
it no longer, and attacked her enemies 
without asking Roman permission. This 
was just what Rome wanted. On this 
pretext she sent an army against Carthage, 
saying that she had broken her treaty. 

In their anxiety to keep out of war, 
the Carthagenians gave up three hundred 
children as hostages from their noblest 
families. 

"If you wish peace, you will not need 
arms to fight with/* said the Romans, 
''give them up." 

"Now," the Romans added, when they 
had their arms and their hostages, "we 
came here to destroy your city and we 
are going to do it." 

The Carthagenians, seeing that they 

118 



had been basely betrayed, shut the gates, 
and worked frantically to prepare new 
arms, and defend the city. 

During four years of a terrible siege, 
they defied the Romans. Then, in 146 
B. C, half dead from hunger and disease, 
they gave up the city. 

The Romans killed or enslaved every 
living being left of a population of seven 
hundred thousand. They put thousands 
of soldiers at work to destroy the city 
completely. What could be burned was 
burned, and the rest was pulled down 
and broken till all was level, the Cartha- 
genians being buried in the ruins of their 
own city. 

This conquest was of great importance 
to Rome, and to all history, because it 
decided that the Graeco-Roman civiliza- 
tion, and not the Carthagenian, should 
develop the countries in southern Europe. 

The Carthagenians were of Phoenician 
race, and were like other oriental peoples 
in their habits and ideas. Their govern- 
ment was despotic; they did not build 

119 



up free colonies; they cared little for 
art, literature, or a free political life; 
and their religious practices were horrible. 

Under their rule the people of the 
civilized world would have sunk back 
again into a condition little better than 
slavery. 

The year 146 B. C. was a notable date 
in Roman history. Fifty years before, 
at the close of the second war with 
Carthage, she .was on the verge of ruin; 
but her victory over Carthage gave her 
a new energy, as the victory at Marathon 
had aroused the Athenians to wonderful 
deeds. 

Macedonia threatened Italy, but the 
veteran armies and military skill of Rome 
soon overcame the Macedonians. 

Other eastern peoples then prepared 
to attack her, but the Roman power 
was able to crush them all. 

Now in 146 B. C, she made herself in 
the same year complete mistress in the 
east by the destruction of Corinth, and 
ended the only power opposed to her in 

120 



the west by the fall of Carthage. In 200 
B. C. Rome was one of several great 
nations. In 146 B. C. she ruled prac- 
tically alone. 




Caurfcsy Raymond & Whitcomb 

FALLS OF THE ANIO. TIVOLI 
Tivoli near Rome, was a famous resort for Roman emperors and nobles, 

121 



THE DECLINE OF THE REPUBLIC 

FROM 146 B. C 

Rome, struggling for life, fighting her 
way against heavy odds, had shown many 
marks of greatness. After the crowning 
victories of 146 B. C, we find a very 
different Rome. Virtue among those 
who rule has almost disappeared. Valor 
among the people is fast giving way to 
vice and greed}^ sloth. 

In their periods of success and wealth, 
the Athenians had turned to art, litera- 
ture, music, and drama; but these had 
not developed among the Romans. Their 
chief pleasures seemed to come from the 
material things of life: food, drink, fine 
clothes, houses, lands, and slaves to do 
their work. 

To possess all these things a Roman 
must be rich, so throughout the Roman 
world we now see a struggle for wealth. 

122 



The outlying lands controlled by Rome 
in the east and west were divided into 
provinces. Consuls were usually made 
governors of these provinces, after having 
served a term in Rome, and were then 
called proconsuls. 

The governor of a province received 
little pay. He planned to get rich from 
the taxes levied in his province. As he 
usually went in debt to pay for his elec- 
tion as consul, and for his appointment as 
proconsul, he also had to collect enough 
to pay back the great sums used for 
political influence. 

Besides this, there were judges at 
Rome who tried the governors that had 
collected money against the law; so more 
money had to be raised to bribe these 
judges, for almost all governors broke 
the law. 

Thus a governor was under the neces- 
sity of gathering in a very short time huge 
sums of money. 

Vast treasure and immense stores of 
booty, grain, wine, provisions, and prop- 

123 



erty of all kinds, were sent back to 
Rome by the armies in the field during 
the years which followed 146 B. C. 

Rome attacked small and weak nations 
one after the other. Thousands were 
killed, and thousands more sent to Italy 
as slaves. 

The treasure went into the coffers of 
the rich, making them richer still, while 
the slaves did their work. For this 
reason the poor citizens could earn 
nothing, and their poverty increased. 

Before many years the sturdy common 
people of Rome had disappeared, and 
Rome had become a community of 
millionaires and beggars. 

Now Rome boiled with discontent, 
and the scum of the known world rose 
there. The struggle between the nobles 
and the poor grew more and more bitter. 
Slavery became a terrible curse, slaves 
being so cheap that it was more pro- 
fitable to work them to death than to 
feed them. 

Quarrels over the public lands threat- 

124 



ened civil war. Judges gave decisions 
in favor of those who bribed them most. 
The provinces were stripped. All thinking 
citizens realized that such conditions 
must soon produce terrible results. 

The Gracchi were two brothers who 
longed to help the common people. They 
were brilliant men, great orators and 
leaders. By their Influence they had 
laws passed which gave to the poor part 
of the public lands, cheap grain, and more 
power In the government. 

Some of these laws were wise; some 
were not; but the hatred of the Senate 
gave such reforms little chance to have 
a fair trial. Within a few years the two 
Gracchi were murdered, with thousands 
of their followers. 

The streets of Rome had for the first 
time been reddened with the blood of 
her own sons, killed by brother Romans 
for hatred and revenge. 



125 



WAR WITH JUGURTHA 

The war with Jugurtha, in no B. C, 
showed how far the Romans had sunk. 
Complaints came to the senate from 
Africa that Jugurtha, King of Numidia, 
was sacking the villages of his weaker 
neighbors. 

Commissioners were sent to correct 
matters. They made reports favorable 
to Jugurtha. Still complaints poured in. 
A consul was sent with an army to punish 
Jugurtha, but he soon made friends with 
the consul, and behaved worse than 
before. 

An investigation was ordered by the 
senate, and then it was shown that 
Jugurtha had bribed with huge sums all 
who came near him. He now bribed 
the judges, and said that Rome would 
sell herself if she could find a purchaser. 

126 



At last Rome found an honest general, 
named Marius, who would not be bribed. 
He captured Jugurtha and brought quiet 
in that devastated land. 




Courtesy Raymond 6" Whitcomb. 

AN IMPERIAL GARDEN IN PALERMO 

The Normans, ruling the Roman Empire just before the crusades, had 

tiieir Capitol in Palermo. 

127 



THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONS 

The invasion of the Cimbri and 
Teutons, in 104, while Rome was still 
busy with Jugurtha, made her people 
tremble for their very lives. These were 
German tribes which were moving south 
in vast numbers, in search of the fertile 
fields and warm sun of Italy. 

Remembering the terrible Gauls, the 
Romans dreaded these still more, for 
they had easily overcome the Gauls in 
the north, who stood in their way. 

Five Roman armies were crushed in the 
path of the invaders. A second destruc- 
tion of Rome by the barbarians from the 
north seemed certain, when Marius re- 
turned from Africa, and drilled a new 
army, recruited from Romans whom 
deadly fear had now made desperate. 

Then Marius waited for a good chance, 

128 



and in loi attacked the Cimbri and the 
Teutons one after the other Each tribe 
was defeated, and all, men, women, and 
children, were put to death. 




A STREET !N A MOUNTAIN VILLAGE 

Foot passengers only can make their way through these steep and 
narrdw streets. 



129 



THE SOCIAL WAR 

The social war, in 91 B. C. which 
followed the conquest of the northern 
tribes, indicated the treacherous founda- 
tions upon which the Roman State was 
built. 

The allies of Rome, or socii> as they 
were called in Latin, had complained 
long and bitterly about the tyranny of 
the Romans. The citizens of some towns, 
directly colonized by Rome, were called 
Latins, and their people had rights as 
Roman citizens. Many towns and cities 
in Italy, however, as old as Rome, had 
been conquered by the Romans, and 
though now allies, their people suffered 
all the indignities of slavery. 

These allied towns, or socii, now driven 
to fury by the increasing insolence of 
the Romans, set up a republic of their 
own. Rome attacked them. The fight 

130 



was bitter, and again Rome saw herself 
on the edge of ruin. 

Hundreds of thousands, the best men 
of Italy, fell in battle, as many more died 
in the massacres that followed. Cities 
were burned, fields laid waste. Italy, 
just recovered again from the Punic 
wars, was fast bleeding to death. 

At last Rome promised the rights 
demanded, and after this time all free 
men on the peninsula were classed as 
citizens of the Roman state, which Italy 
had now become. 

Thus for the first time we see people 
in a large territory bound together by 
common ties of self interest. The waste- 
ful strife of city against city was ended. 
Great historians believe that this measure, 
admitting the Italian allies to citizenship, 
was the most important political act in 
the history of the Roman Republic. 



131 



CIVIL WARS IN ROME 

MiTHRiDATES, king of Pontus, a land 
on the Black sea, had taken the oppor- 
tunity, while Rome was fighting the social 
war, to ravage the Roman provinces in 
the east, and to kill every Italian he could 
lay hands upon. His power had grown 
so great as to threaten even the home 
territory of Rome. 

Marius, who had overcome Jugurtha, 
and had saved Rome from the Cimbri 
and Teutons, wished to be made com- 
mander against Mithridates. Sulla, also 
a brilliant officer of high rank, had the 
same desire. The Senate appointed Sulla 
who organized his army in 88 B. C. and 
marched eastward. 

Marius, in revenge for this vote of the 
Senate, raised troops of his own, moved 
on Rome, had the consul killed, and put 
himself in the consul's place. Hundreds 

132 



of his opponents were killed at his orders, 
without trial, and Rome now bowed 
before him as her master. 

The strife and bloodshed between 
Romans, seen for the first time in the 
revolt of the Grachii, now returned with 
double terror. The mad rabble followed 
Marius; his soldiers carried out his whims 
as laws of state, and all who incurred 
his displeasure were put to death. 

Sulla, meanwhile, had waged successful 
war against Mithridates. He brought 
the revolting provinces to submission, 
and then, with a victorious army, devoted 
to his interests, turned back toward 
Rome. In the year 82 Marius was 
finally defeated by Sulla. He fled to 
Africa and died in exile. 

After the capture of Rome by Sulla, 
friends of Marius trembled at the ven- 
geance to come. 

As soon as his power was made secure, 
Sulla posted a list of those condemned 
to death. Those whose names were so 
posted were proscribed, and any one 

133 



would be rewarded for killing them. 
Their property was given by Sulla to his 
friends. 

Day by day the lists grew longer. 
Those who had property were in the 
greatest danger. The friends of Sulla 
grew richer and richer, till their fortunes 
were immense. Even brothers betrayed 
each other to get more wealth, and 
thousands fled from Rome. 

The Senators, now mere tools of Sulla, 
praised all he had done, and made him 
absolute dictator for as long as he wished. 
He reduced the rights of the people, 
and increased the powers of the nobles. 
He made laws to suit himself, some bad, 
some good. Nobody dared complain. 
Thus he ruled during three years. He 
then resigned and retired to a secluded 
villa, where soon after he died. 

Sulla's rule had reduced the citizens 
to a mob of beggars, and the senate to a 
group of greedy, vicious nobles, eager 
only to enrich themselves at any cost. 



134 



REVOLT OF THE GLADIATORS 

Spartacus, a famous gladiator, noted 
the confusion and strife in Rome after the 
death of Sulla. He was a slave of noble 
gifts and high purpose, who longed to 
strike for the freedom of his class. 

Gladiators were slaves trained to fight 
in the arena, and kill each other for the 
sport of the degraded Romans. It was 
a horrible occupation. 

In 73 B. C. Spartacus was ready. He 
gathered his bold friends and fled to 
the crater of Vesuvius, where they were 
soon joined by thousands of other slaves. 

Led by the great gladiator, the forces 
of Spartacus destroyed seven Roman 
armies, and held southern Italy during 
two years. But at last, in the year 71, 
they were overcome by Crassus, an able 

135 



general, and the awful tortures inflicted 
on those captured served as a warning to 
all who might have thought of revolting. 




THE LAST COMBAT IN THE ARENA 

136 



POMPEY 

POMPEY was an ambitious young officer 
who had distinguished himself under 
Sulla, and the Romans now looked upon 
him as their most able general. Just 
before the slave revolt, he had been sent 
to Spain to fight agaiuvSt Sertorius, a 
noble governor who refused to ruin 
Spain in order to make the Roman 
rulers rich. 

The people in Spain rallied to defend 
their champion, and for several years 
Pompey had little success. At last 
Sertorius was killed by treachery, and 
Pompey overcame the Spanish province. 
He then in 71 B. C. returned [to Rome, 
with part of his army, in time to help 
Crassus defeat the revolting gladiators 
and slaves. 

Pompey and Crassus were now the 
most important figures in Rome, for the 

137 



time had come when only generals of 
victorious armies could maintain control. 

Pirates at this time ranged the Mediter- 
ranean from end to end. In her con- 
quests Rome had ruined thousands of 
ambitious men. With nothing else to 
do, many of them raised crews as 
desperate as themselves, and successfully 
attacked not only ships, but towns along 
the shore. 

Pompey was given absolute power as 
dictator over the Mediterranean and a 
strip of land all about the coast, with 
the hope that he might drive off these 
pirates, who actually at times threatened 
Rome herself. Within forty days he had 
swept the sea clear of the pirate vessels, 
and the shores were again safe. 

Mithridates was now making new 
efforts to force back the Roman power 
throughout the east, and in order to 
defeat him Pompey was again appointed 
dictator. 

This campaign was the crowning point 
of Pompey's career. Mithridates was 

138 



an able opponent, a great leader, shrewd, 
vigilant, and renowned, whose name 
stood with that of Hannibal as a foe to 
be dreaded. But Pompey soon caused 
his downfall, and then drove on into the 
other eastern lands. 

After five years, he returned to Rome 
for the most splendid triumph the world 
had ever known. Undreamed of treasure 
was added to the Roman State, and 
the great provinces of Asia Minor were 
made tributary to Rome. 

Catiline, a turbulent, vicious noble, 
had planned a vast conspiracy while 
Pompey was away. He schemed to 
murder the consuls and senators, to seize 
the property of the rich, and to make 
himself tyrant. 

When all were gathered in the senate 
chamber, Cicero, at that time consul, and 
a great orator, arose and denounced 
Catiline in speeches which millions of 
readers have applauded throughout the 
ages. At the close of the third speech 
Catiline fled, and was soon after killed. 

139 



THE RISE OF JULIUS CAESAR 

59 B. C. 

After Pompey's great triumph there 
were no more nations to fear, so his army 
was dispersed, and the senate took mea- 
sures to reduce his power. Without his 
army he was not strong enough to control 
the factions, so he joined fortunes with 
Crassus, a noble of enormous wealth. 

Together they decided to add a third 
partner, hoping thus to control the 
destinies of Rome. This third member 
was Julius Caesar. 

Julius Caesar was still a young man. 
He was of Patrician family, but had 
made himself a leader of the people. He 
had been dissolute, but experience had 
made him more thoughtful. His ambi- 
tion was boundless, his energy unequalled, 
and his knowledge of human affairs was 
not -only greater than that of Pompey 

140 



and Crassus, but was such that few of 
the world's great figures have equalled 
him as a master of men. 

The group of three, thus formed, was 
called the First Triumvirate. They di- 
vided the control of the Roman world. 

To Crassus was assigned the East. 
There he planned to form a great army, 
and to wage victorious wars, and return 
as sole master in Rome. He made need- 
less war upon the Parthians and was 
soon killed. 

Pompey was made proconsul of Spain. 
Afraid to stay so far from the city, he 
remained in Rome, and let deputies 
govern for him, while he kept a watchful 
eye on Caesar and on the politics of Rome. 
Pompey' s real ambition, like that of 
Crassus, was, in the end, to rule alone. 

Caesar looked far ahead. He was 
determined to have not only an army, 
but a people to support him. Gaul was 
his allotted share. Thither he hastened, 
and began his work. 

Caesar's first step was to organize an 

X41 



army. The Helvetians, a Celtic tribe, 
dwelling where Switzerland now lies, 
threatened the Roman frontiers. He 
enrolled his legions, rushed upon the 
Helvetian forces, and slaughtered nearly 
all. 

He then turned west, and won a victory 
over the German tribes. 

The following year the Belgians gave 
him a chance for still further victories. 

During these months, Caesar wrote 
careful dispatches to Rome, explaining 
the terrible danger these wild tribes were 
to the Roman State, and skillfully 
working up a feeling of respect and 
gratitude for his service in protecting 
Italy. 

The destruction and slaughter that 
Caesar's .wars had produced in Gaul now 
gave way to order and peace. He carried 
his military control across the Rhine into 
Germany, and across the channel into 
England. 

Where Caesar went, good government 
followed. He never forgot to send home 

142 



lavish gifts to the people at Rome, but 
he never sacked a province and left it 
bare. Public works of all kinds were 
developed, and all was undertaken that 
could be done to make each province 
prosperous. 

Gradually the number who praised 
the name of Caesar grew, until his hope 
seemed near realization, and the people 
were ready to stand in his support. 

The hour came none too soon. At 
Rome Pompey had remained friendly to 
the great conqueror of Gaul, through his 
love for Caesar's daughter, whom he 
married. Her death now left him free 
to follow his ambition, which was to 
rule alone. 

Soon Caesar received an order to return 
to Rome. He hastened to obey, but 
when Pompey heard that he was bringing 
his best legions with him, he fell into a 
rage. His plans were in danger, for he 
knew Caesar had many friends in Rome. 

''Bring no soldiers across the Rubicon," 
was the order sent to Caesar from the 

143 



Senate. Caesar knew the law forbade 
him to take an army across that Httle 
river, the boundary between Gaul and 
Italy. 

'*I will myself make the law," he said, 
and plunging into the stream, he waded 
over, followed by his men. 

Pompey had no forces in Rome, so 
he retired to the east, where he raised 
a large, but badly organized army. After 
setting Rome in order as best he could, 
Caesar pursued Pompey. 

At Pharsalus, in Thessaly, the two 
great generals met. Not only must their 
personal ambitions be decided, but the 
question whether the east or the west 
should dominate in Roman affairs. 

Pompey was easily overthrown by 
the Gallic veterans under Caesar, and 
fled to Egypt. There he was killed by 
one who thought to, please Caesar, but 
who was himself executed under Caesar's 
orders, when he found his rival thus done 
to death 



144 



CAESAR RULES ALONE 

Caesar, with no one to dispute his 
power, now found himself sole ruler in 
the Roman world. 

As his pursuit of Pompey had taken 
him into the east, he planned to organize 
that region before going back to Rome. 

In Egypt, Queen Cleopatra, fairest of 
women, had been driven from her throne. 
She appealed to Caesar, and won his 
support. He placed her again on the 
throne, and leaving Egypt once more at 
peace, he moved on to settle the affairs 
of the other eastern provinces. 

Province after province felt the power 
of his arms, and the genius of his rule. 
Within three years he had put down all 
disorder, and he was able to view from 
Rome a vast dominion that accepted his 
authority. 

Caesar was great in many varied lines 

145 



of work. He would have won fame as a 
soldier, a scholar, or an orator, but he 
will chiefly be remembered as a leader 
of men. 

Looking over his vast dominions, he 
at once laid plans to make the lives of 
all his people happier and more pros- 
perous. He made new laws, built cities, 
developed provinces, spread Roman 
citizenship, and even brought leading 
provincials to the Roman Senate to 
represent the interests of their districts. 

In his treatment of those about him, 
Caesar showed a confidence and modera- 
tion almost unknown in his time. Those 
who had been his enemies he forgave, and 
sought to make them friends. 

This faith proved his undoing. Cassius 
and Brutus, two who received favors, 
saw Caesar rising in the esteem of all 
classes. They realized that he would 
soon be king in name, as he already was 
in fact, and they planned to end his 
ambitions with his life. 

These two men gathered a group of 

146 



treacherous senators, who pretended to 
be submitting a request; then, while 
Caesar gave his gracious attention, they 
drew their daggers. 

Seeing those whom he had befriended, 
and protected, eager to take his hfe, 
Caesar looked sady at Brutus. ''You, 
too, Brutus?" he said. Then he drew 
his robe about him, and died, as he had 
lived, with dignity and courage. 

The murder of Caesar was a deadly 
blow at the Roman institutions he was 
shaping so intelligently. The Roman 
world had been at peace; by this deed it 
was plunged back into war. Caesar had 
opened the door of hope to all the peoples 
who lived beneath his rule; now it was 
again closed to those who lacked wealth 
and power. 

The name of Julius Caesar comes down 
to us through the ages, covered with 
honor, because of the service he rendered 
to his fellow men. 



147 



A SECOND TRIUMVIRATE 

When Caesar died, Mark Antony 
was consul. He was popular, shrewd, 
experienced, but lacked a high moral 
character. 

Octavius , Caesar was a nephew to 
Julius Caesar, and had been adopted 
as his son. Octavius was only nineteen, 
but he enjoyed the prestige of his great 
father's name. 

The Second Triumvirate was con- 
stituted by these two men, who took in 
with them Lepidus, then governor of 
Spain and Gaul. 

Both Antony and Octavius intended 
finally to get sole power. Warned by 
Caesar's fate, their first act was to slay 
every man they feared. Proscription 
lists like those of Sulla's day were again 
seen posted, and several thousand well 

148 



known Romans had died before the 
triumvirate felt safe. 

Among those who were killed was 
Cicero, the great orator. He had attacked 
Mark Antony in his speeches, and he 
fell a victim to Antony's vengeance. 

Antony and Octavius now set out to 
destroy the conspirators, who had fled 
to the east after making way with Caesar. 
This was quickly accomplished. Both 
Brutus and Cassius killed themselves 
when defeat came upon them at the battle 
of PhiHppi. 

Safe from these enemies, Antony and 
Octavius dropped the third member of 
the Government, Lepidus, and divided 
the Roman world between themselves. 

Antony, taking the East, was soon 
enslaved by the charms of the voluptuous 
Cleopatra. Soon it was reported that 
he planned to make her queen of the 
Roman world. Octavius helped to 
spread these reports, and set out with 
an army to defeat and destroy his remain- 
ing rival. This was brought about in 

149 



the naval battle of Actium, fought in 31, 
off the coast of Greece, Antony and 
Cleopatra committed suicide, and Oc- 
tavius was left sole master in Rome. 




Courtesy Raymond 6f Wh itcomb. 

WHERE ROiMAi^ EMPERORS ONCE WANDERED 



150 



THE EMPIRE OF ROME 

27 B. C. 

It was now clear that Rome must be 
governed by a single will, if any effective 
government was to be maintained, and 
the rule of Octavius Caesar was welcomed 
by the Roman people. The old Republi- 
can forms were preserved, the Senate 
met and deliberated, and the assembly 
elected magistrates, but every one knew 
that the hand of Octavius directed all 
things. 

In his early conflicts, Octavius had 
proved crafty, cold, and cruel; but now 
that he had supreme power he became 
a just and faithful ruler. The work and 
ways of his great father he tried to carry 
on, and he succeeded so well that the 
whole empire responded to his efforts. 

Colonial development received special 
attention. Industry revived, cities were 

151 



built, roads constructed, order estab- 
lished, education encouraged. So great 
was his popularity and success that the 
people gave him the name "Augustus," 
a title hitherto borne only by the gods, 
and by this title he is known in history. 
This was known as the Golden Age 
of Rome, and so firmly did Augustus 
Caesar organize his empire, that it lasted 
three centuries after his death. 




THE APPIAN WAY 
A famous road near Rome, showing the pillars of the great aqueduct 
that used to carry water to the city. 

152 



THE RULE OF ONE ON TRIAL 

Upon the death of August us, all realized 
that some successor must be found to 
take his place as single head of the 
state. Only a few, who had selfish 
motives, wished to return to the former 
rule under a greedy senate and a popular 
assembly. By general consent, therefore, 
Tiberius, the stepson of Augustus, was 
made the next emperor. 

Tiberius proved a conscientious ruler, 
anxious to serve the people he controlled. 
In Rome he feared, with good reason, the 
jealous hatred of nobles who wished his 
place and power. There he was stem, 
severe, and suspicious. In the provinces 
he left a high reputation for kindness and 
good government. His rule made the 
Roman Dominions still more satisfied to 

153 



retain, in place of the old republican 
forms, an imperial rule. 

Caligula, Claudius and Nero, who fol- 
lowed Tiberius, showed how government 
under one emperor is likely to work. 
The ruler always wishes to pass on his 
throne to his own heirs; but there is never 
any certainty that these heirs would be 
worthy of their trust. 

Caligula turned out to be a madman 
and monster. The empire rejoiced when 
he was murdered by his guard. Claudius 
was wiser, and made some reforms, es- 
pecially to protect slaves from the cruelty 
of their masters. Nero, again, proved to 
be as bad, toward the end of his reign, as 
Caligula. He sank deeper and deeper 
into vice and crime, till at last, deserted 
by all, he killed himself. 




154 



CHRISTIANITY IN ROME 

The birth of Christ came in the reign 
of Tiberius. Sixty years later, under 
Nero, the Christians appeared as a group 
large enough to attract attention and 
hostility. They refused to worship the 
Roman gods, and to recognize the Roman 
forms of worship. 

For this Nero ordered terrible persecu- 
tions. At one time he had Christians 
covered with pitch, fastened to posts, and 
burned, to illuminate the vile revels in 
the imperial gardens. 

But, even while they watched, and 
jeered at the dying Christians, the Romans 
were learning to admire their courage and 
faith. The persecution that was intended 
to crush the Christians and blot them out, 
only spread the faith among those who 
persecuted them 

155 



THE RULE OF THE ARMY 

At the death of Nero, in 69 A.D.,' 
Rome, after nearly one hundred years of 
empire, found itself in the wildest confu- 
sion. Certainly none of Nero's brood 
could secure the throne. 

The army, meanwhile, had been the 
support that emperors had learned to 
lean upon, and it had grown into a strong, 
well organized body. It was the army 
that took things into its own hands, and 
named the next emperor, Vespasian. 

Vespasian proved a wise choice. He 
came from the family of a Sabine laborer, 
who had won promotion in the army b}' 
his commanding genius. 

Vespasian knew the needs of the dis- 
tracted empire and, rude soldier as he was, 
proved an able and progressive emperor. 
He not only ruled well, but so trained his 

156 



son, Titus, that he became one of the 
kindest, most self-sacrificing of rulers. 
The great desire of Titus seemed to be to 
serve others* 




Courtesy Raymond & Whitcomb 

SAINT PETERS. ROME 
Seen through the garden of the Knights of Malta. 



157 



JERUSALEM AND POMPEII 

Two events of great importance took 
place during this period. 

About the year 75, Titus led an army 
gainst Jerusalem, as the Jews had re- 
volted. After a long siege, which the 
Jews withstood till almost all the fighters 
had perished, the walls fell and the city 
was laid in ruins. 

Soon after the fall of Jerusalem, a 
terrible event sent a shudder through the 
empire. People hastened through the 
streets of Rome. 

''Vesuvius has burst forth. Pompeii is 
doomed!" 

Vesuvius, a high mountain near Naples, 
just south of Rome, had burst into 
flames. Great floods of lava poured out. 
A deluge of hot ashes descended 

The cloud of ashes darkened the sky 
over all Italy, and before long Pompeii 

158 



and Herculaneum, two large cities near 
Vesuvius, were buried so deep that even 
their sites were forgotten. 

Hundreds of years later, in the eigh- 
teenth century, while digging a well, the 
Italians found the site of Pompeii. 

Since then this great city of two thou- 
sand years ago has been gradually exca- 
vated, and the streets, houses, temples, 
public buildings, even the men and 
women, with their dress and ornaments, 
have been disclosed, preserved by the 
layer of volcanic ash, just as they were 
when the Romans, in the time of Caesar, 
made Pompeii their home. 




THE BAY OF NAPLES. LOOKING TOWARD POMPEII 

159 



THE GOOD EMPERORS 

Vespasian and Titus, by their able 
efforts to serve, had brought the empire 
again into fair order, and again the people 
were content to let the emperors choose 
their own successors. Trajan, who came 
in 98 A.D., was a Spaniard by birth, anc 
a great general. He pushed back the 
nations crowding upon the northern and 
eastern boundaries, and he largely ex- 
tended the limits of the Roman Empire. 

Hadrian, Trajan's cousin, who followed 
in 117, found it necessary to spend much 
time in protecting these frontiers, as 
Rome was constantly threatened with 
invasions. 

Trajan withdrew the boundaries in the 
east nearer to Rome, and strengthened 
the army. His most famous work was 
Hadrian's Wall, which he built across the 
island in Britain, to protect the southern 

160 



part from the wild raiders of the High- 
lands. 

Hadrian also followed the example of 
Trajan in developing that great network 
of smooth, straight roads, that led from 
Rome to all points of the empire. 

Marcus Aurelius, the last of this group, 
known as the good emperors, came to the 
throne in i6i. He deserves to be remem- 
bered by all who read of Rome. He was 
a scholar, a philosopher, and a gentleman, 
bringing the entire fruits of a great mind 
and a good life to the work of guiding the 
fortunes of his people. No task was too 
great, no hardship too severe, if the good 
of those he served might be attained. 

Trained to the study and the salon, 
Aurelius was obliged to give up his books 
and friends to take the sword, and in the 
wastes and forests of the frontiers, defend- 
ing Rome from hostile invasion, he lived 
and died. 

Strong to rebuke the wrongdoer and to 
defend the oppressed, he so ruled that 
the great spaces of the Roman world were 

161 



filled with a population that enjoyed 
happiness and prosperity which could 
have been made possible only by the 
service of a man of original genius and 
capacity for self sacrifice. A volume of 
''Meditations" left by the Philosopher 
Emperor, is still, eighteen centuries after 
his death, of service to thoughtful readers. 




Courtesy Raymond G Whitcomb. 

ONCE THE BATTLEGROUND OF ROME AND GAUL 

162 



MANY BAD RULERS 

CoMMODUS, the son of Marcus Aurelius, 
proved a wretch so infamous that he was 
at last, in 192, murdered by his own 
soldiers. 

Again the army ruled. The empire 
was 200 years old, and well established, 
but the emperor's throne had become the 
object of rivalry and strife among the 
generals of the armxy. 

The strongest won, but such was the 
difficulty of ruling, and so many were 
they who wanted the place, that, during 
the following ninety years, twenty-seven 
"barrack emperors" came and went. 
Nearly all died at the hands of those whom 
they tried to rule. 



163 



NOTABLE CHANGES IN ROME 

During three hundred years, from 31 
B. C, to 284 A. D., the Roman Empire 
had shown many important results of the 
greatest interest. 

With a hollow mockery of republican 
forms, in the hands of a greedy band of 
nobles, who made up the senate, the 
empire had come close to the edge of 
destruction. 

Under Caesar it secured that strength 
which comes from order and good govern- 
ment. Augustus retained the directing 
power, but left the old forms of republican 
machinery. The senate voted, the assem- 
bly discussed public matters, and local 
councils all over the empire attended to 
local business. 

During the next century, the emperors 
followed this plan of rule. Intelligent 
citizens realized that the emperor held all 

164 



real power, but the majority were satis- 
fied to see the empire strong and pros- 
perous. During this century, the people 
under Roman rule, from Spain to Egypt, 
enjoyed civilized comforts and prosperity 
such as they had never before known, and 
have never known since. 

Rich men took pride in showing gener- 
osity in public works. Great cities, with 
water works, sewers, theatres and spacious 
homes, were scattered over the territory 
where mean dirty hamlets now lie. 

Beneath this activity and prosperity 
were, however, serious defects, which, 
like worms in a palace wall, slowly 
weakened the foundations of the State. 

Self government gave way more and 
more to government from the ruler's 
throne. To enforce his rule and protect 
his boundaries, the emperor made his 
army strong. The fighting, no longer 
cared for by patriotic citizens, was left 
to the hands of professional soldiers. 

War became a profession, and citizens 
became weaker in body and will, more 

165 



servile, more docile, more willing to be 
cared for and do as they were told. 

All this time fierce nations which hated 
Rome, and wanted her rich lands, pressed 
upon her borders, while the army itself, 
producing nothing, was becoming master 
of those who worked and produced. 

During the last century before 284 
A. D., conditions showed the worms at 
work; the structure began to totter. 
Generals bought for a vast price the 
imperial throne, and were soon murdered 
by the soldiers, who wished to sell the 
empire over again. 

Even had Rome been free from dan- 
gerous enemies, this condition must soon 
have brought ruin in its train. 

But on all the borders of the empire 
were nations, not trained in the arts and 
enjoyments of peace, which looked with 
envy upon the wealth and comforts of the 
Romans. 

The Moors were moving north in 
Africa; the Persians were attacking from 
the east; the Goths were overrunning 

166 



northern Greece; the Germans were de- 
scending into Italy itself; and the Franks 
were pressing into Gaul and Spain. 

As a further trouble, the Empire was, 
in 1 66, visited by a terrible plague. 
During the following century, this plague 
returned frequently, bringing desolation 
upon many communities. 

The ravages of enemies without, and of 
disease within, found no sturdy Romans 
to withstand them. The Romans had 
become enervated. They loved comforts 
and luxuries, and had small families. 
They still looked for protection and con- 
trol to the throne, and they looked in vain. 

The rule of one man as emperor could 
be successful only so long as the emperor 
and his people were men of power and 
ambition. The very nature of imperial 
rule had robbed the citizens of power and 
ambition, and with the pillars of its whole 
structure thus weakened, the empire 
began to crumble in decay. 



167 



DIOCLETIAN - DIVISION OF THE 
ROMAN EMPIRE 

284 

When Diocletian came to the throne 
in 284, he realized that the task of ruling 
had become too great for one man. He 
therefore asked a faithful friend, Maxi- 
mian, to rule with him, taking charge of 
the East, while Diocletian ruled in the 
West. 

These rulers then each divided his part, 
giving half into the care of an assistant. 

Thus there were really four rulers now 
in the empire, although Diocletian, by 
his great ability, held command. He was 
the last of those known as the barrack 
emperors, a rough soldier, but able, far- 
sighted, and earnest. After twenty years 
of authority he resigned, and persuaded 
his partner, Maximian, to do the same, 

168 



leaving their two assistants to become 
joint rulers. 

This change brought on new civil wars, 
and struggles for the throne, which 
lasted seven years, until 306, when Con- 
stantine, the son of one of these joint 
rulers, who had died, came into power. 
At first Constantine associated with 
himself a joint ruler, but he soon quar- 
relled with this associate, overcame his 
forces, and ruled alone. 




THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE 



169 



CONSTANTINE SUPPORTS 
CHRISTIANITY 

Constantine's rule must be remem- 
bered for two important events: he recog- 
nized Christianity as a favored or state 
religion, and he transferred the capitol of 
the empire from Rome to Byzantium on 
the Bosporus, north of Greece. 

Christianity had, during three hundred 
years, grown steadily in the cities of the 
empire. Because the Christians had re- 
fused to worship the Roman gods and 
emperors, and had held their meetings in 
secret, they had been suspected and hated 
by the lower-class Romans, and had been 
punished, and persecuted to death by 
intelligent Romans, because of the strife 
and trouble aroused by their faith. 

In the reign of Diocletian, a persecution 
had been carried on against them with 

170 



great severity, causing the death of 
thousands. 

But the Christian spirit grew constantly 
among the people, and Constantine, far- 
seeing and broadminded, decided to put 
a stop to all persecution, and took the 
Christians under his imperial protection. 

Thus made free, the Christians spread 
abroad their teachings among the Roman 
people, and also among the barbarians 
themselves. So it came about, when 
Rome fell as a political state, the Chris- 
tian groups were strong enough to hold 
many important communities together, 
and to preserve for later generations, the 
most valuable of the Roman institutions. 

Governments have come and gone, but 
the Christian Church came to be recog- 
nized as the very foundation of civilized 
society. This act of Constantine, ac- 
knowledging the Christians, was the most 
important event of the fourth century. 

Byzantium, with a wonderful situation 
near the center of the empire, crossed by 
many important trade routes, and pro- 

171 



tected from barbarian hordes, seemed to 
Constantine a better place for a capitol 
than Rome. 

The people in Byzantium were more 
quiet than those of Rome, who had grown 
turbulent and vicious during the long 
years of strife under the barrack emperors. 

For these and other reasons, Constan- 
tine decided to make Byzantium his 
capital, and to call it Constantinople, 
which means the City of Constantine. 

With the empire in the east now set up 
by Constantine, we have little to do. It 
brought nothing new or important to the 
nations from which western civilization 
sprang. It did form a protection for 
several centuries, until its fall in 1453, 
against attacks from the east, which 
might have brought hordes of barbarous 
races upon Europe, before it had gained 
strength and discipline to withstand them. 
It fought back one race after another for 
a thousand years, until it was finally 
broken up, and its territories occupied 
largely by the Turkish Empire. 

172 



ROME INVADED FROM WITHOUT 

Germanic nations all along the north- 
ern bounds of the Roman Empire had 
been breaking through into her lands at 
many points, and by 350 they were 
already beginning to settle down and 
make their homes within the Roman 
boundaries. 

These Germanic tribes were rough, 
rude, warlike, and cruel, but they were 
better citizens, in certain ways. They 
were more upright, fearless and ambitious 
than the cultured Romans. The Roman 
home and civic life had in great part 
become corrupt, but the life of the Ger- 
manic people was pure and strong. They 
were quick to learn, and ready to adopt 
the Christian religion, which missionaries 
had brought to them. 

The Romans had gradually become 
servile, cowardly, weak, and these strong 

173 



men of pure blood and fresh vigor were 
able to overcome the Romans. They 
then mingled with them, lived among 
them, and helped to build again the 
crumbling structure of their state. 




Courtesy Raymond <&" Whitcomb. 

ROMAN BATHS AT NIMES, FRANCE 
The Romans left in the cities of Gaul structures that rival those of 
Rome. 

174 



THE GOTHS 

The Goths were the first of these 
tribes to move southward. In great fear 
of attack from the northeast by the Huns, 
more terrible than the Goths, thousands 
appeared upon the north bank of the 
Danube, east of the Adriatic, and begged 
the Romans to let them settle in safety 
beyond the river. This was done, but 
they were mistreated by the contemptu- 
ous Romans, and revolted. They easily 
overcame the Roman armies, and seized 
more lands, but they showed little desire 
to kill or destroy. 

Alaric, in 395, was made the leader of 
these Goths. Seeing how weak the Ro- 
mans were, he led his people down into 
Greece, and then around the Adriatic 
into Italy, seeking the fairest lands for 
homes. 

175 



There his small force might have been 
stopped, but thousands of other German 
soldiers, enraged by their treatment in 
the Roman army, joined Alaric. 

Marching on, he came at last to Rome. 
Mankind had thought Rome safe forever 
from hostile arms, but Alaric besieged 
the city twice, and in a third attack they 
broke in and plundered Rome. 

Being Christians, the Goths spared the 
churches, and those who took refuge in 
them. They took what plunder they 
wanted, and then went farther south, 
planning to cross into Africa, but the 
death of Alaric put a stop to the African 
migration. 

Turning north again, one division of 
the Goths moved up into Gaul and Spain, 
where they ended their wanderings and 
founded their new state. This covered 
the southern part of Gaul, and almost the 
whole of Spain. 

In Gaul they remained about a century, 
until the Franks took control, about 500. 
In Spain their government lasted two 

176 



centuries longer, until the Moors de- 
stroyed their kingdom. 

As years passed, the name *'Goth** 
disappeared. They mingled with the 
peoples of Gaul and Spain, adopted many 
of their customs, and helped to improve 
the races where they lived. 




Courtesy Raymond i^ Vi/hiUoinb 

A GOTHIC CASTLE 
Towering above the surrounding land, gardens and fruit trees are made 
secure by the great walls. 

177 



THE VANDALS 

Another tribe of the Germanic peoples, 
the Vandals, finding the boundaries of 
Gaul and Spain poorly guarded, had made 
their way into Spain, and settled there. 
When the Goths arrived, they forced the 
Vandals south, across into Africa. 

In Africa they built up again the city 
of Carthage, and became a powerful 
maritime people, as the Carthagenians 
had been centuries before. Bold and 
destructive by nature, they turned to 
piracy and made all the Mediterranean 
coasts tremble at their very name. 

Finally' in 455, they attacked Rome 
itself, half a century after Alaric had 
captured the city. Bringing up a large 
fleet, they spent two weeks plundering 
and destroying. 

Many treasures, gathered from all 

178 



parts of the empire, of great historic 
value and rehgious interest, had been 
spared by Alaric. 

These were now placed by the Vandals 
upon their ships and carried out to sea, 
where they were lost in a storm, which 
wrecked most of the fleet. 

For nearly another century the Vandals 
harried the coasts, before they were 
finally scattered. From their wanton 
destruction the name ''Vandal" has come 
to be used for any one who wantonly 
destroys life or property. 




THE TIBER, GUARDING ANCIENT ROME 

179 



ATTILA AND THE HUNS 

When the Goths begged to cross the 
Danube, about 375, they were in deadly 
fear of a fierce Tartar race, which was 
crowding into central Europe from Asia. 
These were the Huns. 

The Huns were not at all like the 
great, fair Goths. They were small, 
wiry, tough, with beardless faces, scarred 
in boyhood with hot irons, and beadlike 
eyes. 

The Huns rode on small, swift horses, 
and fought so fiercely that all fled before 
them. 

Sweeping westward under their king, 
Attila, these fierce hordes sought not 
homes or new lands, like the Goths, but 
booty and destruction. Men, women, 
and children were killed, homes were 
burned, and fields laid waste wherever 
they passed. 

180 



Finally, seeing that they would all 
perish if they did not resist, the men of 
Gaul, Germans and Romans together, 
joined in a fierce battle with Attila at 
Chalons, in Gaul, in 451. The Huns 
were defeated, and Europe was saved. 

The next year, after ravaging part of 
Italy, Attila died, his ill organized king- 
dom soon went to pieces, and by the 
sixth century, the Huns had mostly 
disappeared from Europe. 




THE COLOSSEUM IN ROME 
This vast structure seated 87,000 people. Beneath the arena were the 
pits and caverns, where beasts and prisoners were kept, till they 
were thrust forth to die, to make sport for the Romans. 

181 



THE FRANKS 

The Franks were another tribe of 
Germanic people who had come south- 
ward into Gaul, while the Roman Empire 
was gradually breaking up. They crossed 
the Rhine and settled in the lands south 
and west of that river. 

Their numbers increased, and when, in 
410, Alaric the Goth captured Rome, the 
Franks also began to realize the weakness 
of the Empire, and to build up a power of 
their own. 

The Franks were still heathen, rough, 
and savage, but, like their relatives, the 
Goths, they were ambitious and quick to 
learn. Their aim was not kill and de- 
stroy, but to develop and control a 
homeland. 

182 



This they were able to do, and the 
country called Gaul came to be known as 
France. Their later story can better be 
told under the history of that country. 




SAI>srr VINCENTO 
While Rome was falling apart, learning, and the records of Roman 
civilization were sheltered in monasteries like this. 



183 



THE FALL OF ROME 

476 

With the Goths, the Vandals, the 
Huns, and the Franks, and other nations 
of less importance, breaking in and taking 
land and cities, the Roman Empire of the 
West has now become only a name. 

The event which is given by historians 
as that which marked conveniently the 
end of Roman history, and the beginning, 
on the peninsula, of Italian history, came 
in 476 ; and that date is given as marking 
the Fall of Rome. 

Odoacer, a leader of the Goths, had 
been trained in arms. He understood 
fairly well the conditions in Italy, and 
was wise, bold, and ambitious. After a 
victorious campaign in the East, as a 
general under the Byzantine emperor, 
Odoacer made his way to Italy. 

In Italy he found that the western 

184 



emperor was little Augustus, a lad of 
eight. The boy's father was the real 
ruler, and was in the midst of a quarrel 
with his Gothic soldiers, about land for 
their homes. Odoacer understood these 
Goths. ''Just make me king," he told 
them, "and you shall have all the land 
you want." 

This offer they promptly accepted and 
elected Odoacer king. He then beheaded 
the little emperor's father, and sent the 
lad off to live in a pretty house with all 
the toys he wanted. 

Thus Odoacer the Goth came into 
undisputed possession of the throne of 
the Romans. The history of the Roman 
Empire is closed and the story of Italy 
begins. 

Rome, as a great nation, had lasted 
less than four hundred years before it 
began to crumble. First we see a republic 
gorging itself with the spoils, the very 
lifeblood of its neighbor nations, growing 
wonderfully, and, overcoming all opposi- 
tion, in an overwhelming ambition to 

185 



rule, for the sake of preying upon those 
it could dominate. 

This republic, approaching destruction 
from the quick decay of its manhood and 
citizenship, after little more than a cen- 
tury, becomes an empire, dominated by a 
tyrant and his army, while the republican 
forms gradually give way to those of a 
monarchy. 

Rebuilt by the earnest labor of a few 
great rulers, the nation lives again, 
stronger, happier, more prosperous than 
ever before. 

This empire now develops and builds 
up the provinces that the old Republic 
despoiled. These provinces add their 
strength to the empire, but beyond the 
provinces there is a ring of other nations 
that Rome would gladly destroy, had it 
still the power. 

Again, however, protected in war, and 
dominated in peace, by the ruler and his 
army, the manhood of the empire decays, 
ambition flags, strife grows, the great 
empire splits in two parts. 

186 



The virile barbarians, seeing her decay, 
crowd in and wrest control from those 
too feeble and cowardly to defend their 
lands, and the great empire comes to an 
end. 




WOMAN GATHRING WOOD 
In Italy wood is scarce, and the pooi- must gather it in small branches 
as best they can. 

187 



ITALY 

HER STORY BEGINS 

476 A. D. 

The great Roman Empire had flourish- 
ed as a single state for three hundred years 
and more. It covered the lands where 
Germany, France, Spain, England, Italy 
and portions of Jugo-Slavia now are. It 
also spread over into Africa, and into the 
east as far as Persia. 

The tribes from without had finally 
forced their way down into the western 
part of the empire, till the government 
had little control over this territory. 

At last Odoacer, a Goth, took the crown 
from the head of the little Augustus, 
who then held the title as Emperor in the 
west, and put it on his own head. 

When a Gothic prince, coming down 
from the north, thus put on the emperor's 
crown, historians agreed that this marked 

188 



the end of the Roman empire in the west. 
So, though no great change took place, 
476 A. D. is said to mark the end of 
Rome, on the Itahan peninsula, and the 
beginning of the histor}^ of Italy. 

The Empire of the East, with its capital 
at Constantinople, continued to exist, 
under varying fortunes, for another thou- 
sand years. In 1453 it was overcome by 
the Turks, who blotted out the last trace 
of what had been the great Empire of 
Rome. 

Our story will now turn to those people 
who were to take up their life on the 
Italian peninsula after the empire of 
Rome had passed away. 

Odoacer was called a barbarian b^^ the 
Romans, because he was of a rough, 
warlike, Germanic race, but his rule in 
Italy was better than that of the weak, 
dissolute men who had preceded him. 

For fourteen years he did his best to 
make Italy prosperous and happy, and 
he then gave way to a Gothic leader even 
stronger and more resolute than himself, 

189 



THEODORIC 

489 A. D. 

Theodoric was a Gothic prince, trained 
in the court service at Constantinople. 
In him were combined the rugged power 
of the Goths, and the skill in ruling men, 
that he had gained as a leader of armies 
under the eastern emperor. 

The eastern emperor soon came to fear 
this great, handsome, dominating Goth, 
and when Theodoric asked permission 
to conquer Italy, and overcome Odoacer, 
it was quickly granted. When a ruler 
has two enemies to be feared, he likes 
nothing better than to set them fighting 
each other. 

Theodoric at once gathered his people 
together. They placed all their goods on 
great carts, and started, with their women 
and children, across the mountains for 
Italy. Theodoric planned to capture the 

190 



Italian peninsula and to rnake it a home 
for all his people. 

At last, after a march of nearly a 
thousand miles, and for part of the way 
in very cold weather, these sturdy Goths 
reached Italy. 

Both Odoacer and Theodoric were good 
generals, and neither was able to overcome 
the other. So they made a treaty, agree- 
ing to divide the territory. 

This done, a great feast was held in the 
camp of Theodoric, and at this feast 
Odoacer was murdered. All his family 
were later put to death by Theodoric, 
for fear that some member might lay 
claim to the crown. 

Then began a long rule by a truly great 
man. Theodoric, like m.ost leaders of his 
day, was cruel to his enemies, but when 
these were safely out of the way, he 
devoted all his high talents to making 
Italy prosperous and happy. 

Theodoric did indeed lack those cul- 
tured gifts the Romans had prized. He 
could not read nor write, but he made all 

191 



respect his will. He promoted manu- 
factures, husbandry, and commerce. He 
saw that all men were treated justly. He 
brought Italy to a place of honor among 
the nations, and caused her to bless the 
day he became her ruler. 

He was Vx^ise enough to select as Secre- 
tary of State a scholarly man, named 
Cassiodorus. Cassiodorus rendered im- 
portant service to literature in preserving 
the libraries from destruction, and in 
inducing the Benedictines to carry on the 
production of books. 

Theodoric ruled forty three years in 
Italy. He died in 576, leaving no sons 
to carry on his central goverment; and no 
leader appeared who was strgng enough 
to take his place. 




A GONDOLA IN \'E\ICE 

192 



ITALY IS TORN WITH STRIFE 

Italy, without a strong, controlling 
hand, soon became tangled in many 
quarrels. Large cities, Rome, Naples, 
Ravenna, Florence, Milan, behaved like 
those of Greece in former days. Each 
undertook to rule an independent domin- 
ion and to carry on rivalries and strife 
with its neighbors. 

The Emperor of the East, learning of 
this anarchy in Italy, sent Belisarius, a 
great general, to win back the lost pro- 
vinces in the west. 

Then began wars without end. The 
story of how Belisarius captured Naples is 
a famous tale. 

Having overcome Sicily and all the 
southern districts, without much trouble, 
he found Naples too strong to attack. 

Sending his soldiers to examine every 
rock and grove about the city, Belisarius 

193 



found at last a deserted aqueduct that led 
beneath the walls. 

"Search it out," he ordered. "It may 
give an opening within the gates." 

A scout crept in, and made his way 
down, till he came to a place too narrow 
to admit his body. 

"Take big files," came the command, 
"and file away the rock. Strike not with 
hammers, lest they hear the blows." 

Soon the opening gave passage. The 
rest was clear, and at the end they found 
themselves in an empty reservoir. 

Clinging to the rocks, they crawled up 
the steep sides. There they found an 
old woman, gathering grapes by her cot- 
tage door. 

Threatened with death, the old woman 
stood dumb, while the men let down ropes, 
and drew up six hundred comrades. 

At midnight they went silently to the 
city gates, overcame the guards, and let 
in the army. 

Finding themselves outwitted, the 
garrison of Naples quite willingly joined 

194 



Belisarius, and went along with him to 
capture Rome. That city, not unwilUng 
to change Gothic rule for Roman, was 
easily taken. 

City after city was taken by Belisarius 
and was returned to the rule of the eastern 
empire. But hardly had Belisarius gone 
on to enlarge his conquests, when the 
Goths, or Franks, or some other tribe of 
barbarians, would press forward again to 
the attack, until life in Italy was like one 
great riot. Even the quiet days were 
weather breeders, heralding a storm to 
follow. 

Belisarius was a great general, and an 
honest upright ruler of men, but he found 
his walls falling down almost as fast as 
he built them up. His troubles with the 
Goths and Franks were enough, but a new 
race now descended on Italy, even more 
terrible than these. The new invaders 
were the Lombards, a fierce race which 
migrated from the north, and which now 
looked covetously on the fair fields of 
Italy. 

195 



Ruthless, powerful, and brave, they 
spread terror before them, and captured 
city after city. They gave their name 
to a northern province, later known as 
Lombardy. 

This invasion of the Lombards com- 
pletely destroyed the unity of Italy. They 
were not strong enough to control the 
peninsula, so they gradually withdrew to 
Lombardy, in the north, where they made 
their homes. 

This left many cities, like those of 
ancient Greece, each more or less inde- 
pendent; each fighting with its neighbors 
for precedence. 

From about 575, to 800 A. D., the 
peninsula was torn with strife among those 
seeking power or wealth, and no one 
person or one city-state was great enough 
to secure mastery of the country. 



196 



JHE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 

When the Roman Empire broke up, 
and the central authority was gone, one 
institution remained to guide the desti- 
nies of the new Italy that was to be. 
This was the Christian Church. 

Through all the years, when the power 
of the old Empire was waning, mission- 
aries had been quietly at work, out 
beyond the frontiers. They had gone 
into Gaul, to Spain, to Germany, to 
Britain, and had preached there the 
doctrine of brotherhood and charity of 
the Christian Church. 

Most of these missionaries had gone 
forth from Rome, where the bishops had 
been strong and active. Their converts, 
who were numerous in the provinces, 
saw the veneration these missionaries 
paid to the head of the church in Rome, 
and they also learned to venerate the 

197 



one who directed the Christian Church. 

So, when other rulers lost power, and 
confusion came into life throughout 
Italy, there were thousands who had 
learned to look with respect and venera- 
tion on the Bishop of Rome, as one who 
could command others, deal justly, settle 
disputes, and direct the lives of unhappy, 
disturbed people into more peaceful ways. 

These Christian people steadily in- 
creased in number, and the importance of 
the Church at Rome became greater and 
greater. Whatever changes took place 
in kings and kingdoms, the Church 
remained steadfast, always organized, 
and firm on its foundations. 

Soon after the fall of Rome, in 476 A. D., 
the Bishop of Rome came to be called 
''papa," father, by many, and this word 
grew into ''pope." 

As people died in the faith, with money 
and property to dispose of, they often 
left it to the Pope of Rome, to save it 
from the grasp of greedy and wicked ones. 
Great estates were left in his care, as the 

198 



years rolled on, and even cities and 
districts came under his direct control. 

Thus it happened that the Pope of 
Rome became the head of the Christian 
Church all through the land once covered 
by the Western Empire of Rome, and he 
has remained to this day the head of the 
Roman Catholic Church in all lands. 

Thus it also came about that the Pope 
of Rome became the ruler of cities and 
districts larger than those of many a 
king, and held such power that kings 
themselves bowed beneath his mandate. 
They not only respected him as the head 
of all things spiritual, but respected him 
as one who could call thousands, even 
millions, to his aid in case of need. 




Copyright Edward Crosby Doughty 

ENTRANCE TO PI NCI AN GARDNES, ROME 

199 



CHARLEMAGNE 

800 

Charlemagne was a great king who 
not only helped to* build up the power 
of the Christian Church, but did much to 
bring order out of the chaos in Western 
Europe. 

Charlemagne was a ruler of the Franks, 
who had settled in the region now covered 
by France and Germany. He was an 
organizer and ruler nearly equal to Julius 
Caesar. Gradually he brought to sub- 
mission one rebellious tribe after another, 
till a vast territory north of Italy, from 
Spain to northern Greece, had been 
subdued, and brought into a unified 
dominion. 

These Franks were Christians, and 
when the pope was attacked by the Lom- 
bards and other enemies, he begged the 
Franks for help. Charlemagne went to 

200 



the Pope's aid with such good will and 
success that when the Prankish armies, 
in 800 A. D., finally put the enemies of 
the pope to rout, the pope crowned their 
great leader, and made him emperor of 
the domain they controlled together. 

Charlemagne now ruled not only great 
regions of the north but Italy also. He 
had his central court at Aix la Chapelle 
in the Rhine Valley, and showed such 
wisdom and power in his conduct of affairs 
that many of the German tribes were 
brought under a central government, and 
became civilized to such an extent that 
Italy was spared many attacks from the 
western barbarians that otherwise must 
have come upon her. 

Although no successor followed Charle- 
magne, strong enough to wield his sceptre 
and control the empire, the influence of 
his rule endured in Italy for at least two 
centuries. 



201 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY 

ABOUT 1000 

During the century before the year 
I GOO, a band of powerful, resolute, sea- 
faring people had sailed down from 
Scandinavia, and ravaged the shores of 
Britain and Gaul. They took an im- 
portant part in the history of these lands, 
and they conquered, as their own home, 
a part of Northern Gaul, now called 
Normandy. 

Tancred was a Norman prince who had 
twelve sons, all bold hardy adventurers. 
These young men joined expeditions into 
the Mediterranean sea, which the Nor- 
mans were sending out just after the year 

I GOO. 

Led by the bold sons of Tancred, the 
Normans attacked and captured the 
islands south of Italy, and parts of Italy 
itself. 

202 



*'Ah, those lands are fair, and rich/* 
they cried, when they returned to their 
father's court. "We must capture and 
hold them for our own." 

For many years, first under the leader- 
ship of Tancred's sons, and later under 
other leaders, equally wild and fearless, 
the Normans battled for the possession 
of Italian cities. In 1084 they captured 
and sacked Rome, and in 1090 Count 
Roger conquered Sicily, which was held 
as a Norman Kingdom. A Duchy under 
Norman rule was also established on the 
mainland. 

Gradually, however, these Normans 
mingled with the native Italians and 
became a part of the people they sought 
to rule. 




COLUMBUS STARTS FOR AMERICA 

203 



THE CRUSADES 

ABOUT 1100 

After the death of the great Charle- 
magne, in 814, Italy had been given over 
more and more to wars from without, 
and strife from within. By iioo these 
troubles were bringing her people into 
sad confusion and hardships, when great 
events took place which roused fresh 
interests, and gave life in many Italian 
cities a new and wider outlook. The 
Crusades were beginning. 

With the growth of the Christian 
Church, sacred spots, here and there, in 
Christian lands, became noted. People 
would tell how a lame leg was cured while 
praying at one shrine. Others reported 
how blindness was cured at another 
shrine. Gradually the number of people 
grew, until thousands were visiting these 
sacred spots for prayer and help. 

204 



The tomb of Christ, at Jerusalem, was 
the one shrine sacred above all others. 
There thousands went, though the way 
was long and dangerous, to worship, and 
take some sacred relic back to their 
homes in Europe. 

In 634, Jerusalem, with its holy places, 
had been captured by the Mohammedans. 
In the succeeding twenty-five years, the 
Arab armies swept over the whole of north 
Africa, into Spain on the west, and up 
into Asia Minor on the east. 

While the Mohammedans from Arabia 
controlled the holy places about Jerusalem, 
the pilgrims from other lands were treated 
with courtesy, and the natives profited 
much from the money spent in Pales- 
tine. 

By the close of the eleventh century, 
however, all this was changed. A race 
of Turks, coming down from central 
Asia, were won over to the Mohammedan 
faith, and then became the rulers of the 
Mohammedan lands. 

No sooner had the Turks taken control 

205 




THE UNTAMED TUEK 

Thousands of these men, allies of the Germans, murdered thousands 

of Christians during the war, and are still at it. 



of Palestine, than sad tales of their 
behavior were told in Europe. 

"They robbed us, they insulted us, they 
killed our friends. We just escaped with 
our lives. They desecrate the holy 
places.'* 

The good Christians throughout Europe 
naturally became enraged; and in 1095 
the Emperor of what remained of the 
Eastern Roman Empire, called upon 
the Pope of Rome for help against these 
infidels. 

In turn the Pope called upon the 
Christians in Europe to save the holy 
places from the Turks. 

In answer to his call hundreds of thou- 
sands pledged themselves to help. The 
wars and quarrels over these western 
lands ceased. All eyes turned to the 
East. All minds were lifted in exhalted 
thoughts of rescue for their holy places. 
From every tongue rose the cry: "It is 
the will of God." 

As Italy lay in the path from western 
Europe to the Holy Land, she received 

206 



rich benefits from these Crusades. Cities 
on the sea, Hke Genoa and Venice, rapidly 
grew in wealth and power. 

The movement was so vast that these 
people were carried forward in ideals and 
ideas to a new point of civilization. Those 
returning from the east brought news of 
cities, and schools, and public works, far 
better than those in Italy, and the 
Italians had a desire to improve their 
own conditions. 

With this new idea of life came pro- 
sperity enough to carry out their hopes 
and aspirations, for the trade through 
Italian cities had increased to enormous 
figures. 

As an example, let us remember that 
not long after this the city of Florence 
ruled more people and owned greater 
treasure than did the king of England. 

The Crusaders succeeded at first in 
wresting Palestine and the holy places 
from the Mohammedans, where they 
outdid the Turks themselves in cruelty 
and violence. 

207 



Gradually the high ideals which had 
inspired the Crusades also passed. 

The Christian leaders fought each other 
instead of the infidel Turks, and the 
Crusades degenerated into expeditions 
for conquest and plunder. 

The story of the last important Crusade 
shows the way Christian cities in that 
day were likely to behave. 

A hundred years after the first success- 
ful crusade set forth, an army of laiights 
from France and Germany arrived in 
Venice, planning to hire ships, and buy 
supplies for the trip to Palestine. 

They waited for money to arrive from 
home, but it did not come. Already they 
were in debt to the Doge of Venice for 
food and shelter. 

''Your people will never send money 
to pay your debts," he told them, at 
last. 'Why don't you join me in a 
venture that will make us all rich?" 

"What is it?" they cried. 

"Forget about the Holy Land. No 
profit lies there. Let us join forces and 

208 



capture Constantinople. It is a city of 
vast treasure, and will make us rich." 

So they set forth. 

At the call of the Emperor in Con- 
stantinople, the first Crusade had gone 
in iioo to his aid against a common foe. 
Now in 1 200, the army of the fourth 
Crusade w^as stealthily approaching the 
doomed city. 

The Crusaders and Venetians captured 
Constantinople easily, and treated the 
inhabitants, supposed to be their true 
Christian friends, w4th barbarities similar 
to those of the Huns, Vandals, or Turks. 

Vast treasures they did take away so 
that all were rich. The amount of gold, 
silver, precious stones, and works of art 
lost by Constantinople was so great that 
historians do not try to measure the total. 

Venice, up to this time prosperous and 
happy, made enemies by her treacherous 
attack on Constantinople that finally 
caused her downfall. 

It was clear now that the true spirit of 
the Crusades was gone, and before long 

209 



the number of pilgrims dwindled, till few 
attempted the long, dangerous journey. 
The influence on Italy, however, was 
lasting. The new ideas, the social pro- 
gress, the mingling of races, and the 
great wealth she had gained from the 
Crusades, during the two hundred years 
from iioo to 1300, made it certain that 
Italy was to take a prominent place in 
the affairs of western Europe. 




A STREET IN VENICE 



210 



THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES 

When the feverish missionary spirit 
of the Crusades died away, a selfish, 
jealous spirit grew, which appears in the 
sack of Constantinople. It was the old 
Greek situation all over again. 

Genoa and Venice, Florence and Milan, 
Rome and Naples, as well as other great 
cities, hated each other, and each did its 
best to gain wealth through the destruc- 
tion of its neighbors. 

With this jealous strife there also came 
a division into parties and politics that 
split all Italy. One side supported the 
authority of the Pope of Rome. They 
were called the Guelphs. The other 
supported the Emperor, who still claimed 
to rule Italy from his court in Germany. 
His partisans in Italy were known as 
Ghibellines. 

211 



The wars between these two parties 
were quite hke the other wars of those 
terrible times. No mercy was shown to 
either age or sex. In these bloody con- 
flicts, old men, young men, women and 
children, were not spared. 

See what happened to Milan: 

Milan was at war with Lodi, a neighbor 
city. The emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, 
took the part of Lodi. Milan refused to 
submit to his dictation. Calling on her 
enemies for help, the emperor marched 
against Milan, starved it into surrender, 
and massacred the inhabitants. 

''Now," he said, "Let us make an end 
of this impudent brood. They wanted 
war, let them have it." 

With this he divided Milan into dis- 
tricts, and assigned each part to the 
people of Lodi, and other cities that 
hated Milan. 

At his command they set to work, and 
labored day after day with ferocious 
energy, till they had torn to pieces every 
building, excepting the churches, and 

212 



nothing was left of Milan but a heap of 
ruins. 

The two parties continued this terrible 
strife, though later under different names, 
for several centuries, and their conflicts 
made it impossible for Italy to unite 
against nations about her, that con- 
stantly sought to triumph by her disasters 
and to profit by her loss. 




THE. CELL \VHERE SAVONAROLA WAS IMPRISONED 



213 



REMOVAL OF THE PAPACY 

After a hundred years of aimless 
strife among the different cities in Italy, 
we come to 1308. This date is important, 
because in that year the pope, who was a 
Frenchman, decided to accept the invita- 
tion of the King of France, to move his 
headquarters from Rome to Avignon, in 
France. 

There the head of the church remained 
for seventy years. Then the pope re- 
turned to Rome, where he has remained 
ever since. 

While the pope was in France a terrible 
plague, felt all over Europe, visited Italy 
with horrible results. This plague was 
known as the Black Death. 

Pestilence was common in those days 
of ignorance and filth; and sudden death 
from disease was a common visitor in 

214 



every home, but the Black Death was a 
new and awful sickness. 

Thousands upon thousands died during 
the middle part of the fourteenth century, 
until a quarter of Italy's population had 
been swept away. 




BARBAROSSA 

215 



LEARNING AND CULTURE 
AWAKE 

As time went on, however, through the 
fourteenth century and into the fifteenth, 
a new flower blossomed in Italy. 

The Romans had been coarse and 
greedy, interested in money, lands and 
property. For pleasure they arranged 
combats by gladiators or wild animals. 
Learning was little prized. Painting, 
sculpture, literature held small place in 
their ideals. 

But now, with the rise of great cities, 
following the years of the Black Death, 
there appeared a group of nobles, rich, 
intelligent, and free, who began to patron- 
ize the fine arts. 

Under this protection, the delicate 
blooms of artistic creation appeared in 
many hues. 

Dante, the Florentine poet, wrote his 

216 



Divine Comedy, a story of a visit to Hell 
and Heaven. This work made his name 
great forever. 

Following Dante, from 1400 to 1600, 
great painters, like Botticelli and Leon- 
ardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo, 
created immortal pictures. They made 
this age an epoch of art in their field never 
since equalled. 

Savonarola, a great preacher, stirred 
the hearts of thousands to a higher, better 
life, and died, tortured by his enemies, 
before he knew the happy results of his 
sermons. 

Wonderful buildings rose in Rome, 
Venice, Florence and other cities, to prove 
the powers of these great creative artists. 

It was the dawn of learning and culture 
again, after the dark centuries of turmoil, 
following the fall of Rome. 



217 



COLUMBUS 

1492 

The fifteenth century closed with the 
splendid achievement of Columbus, an 
Italian who lived in Genoa. 

The trade routes to the east had now 
been closed by the Turks, who had cap- 
tured xA.sia Minor and Constantinople. 
The trade of Genoa was dwindling, the 
city was rapidly losing its wealth and 
influence. 

Columbus, a daring commander, and 
skillful sailor, believed he could find a 
new route to the east, and make his city 
rich again. 

Under the patronage of the Queen of 
Spain, Isabella, he sailed west, west, west, 
and in 1492 he found America. 

Columbus died unrewarded. Genoa 
did not become rich, but the voyage 

218 



opened the eyes of all Europe to a 
new world, of which they had never 
dreamed, and turned them from the east 
to the new lands beyond the western 
ocean. 




Copyright Raymond id Whitcomb 

THE SHORE AT GENOA 
Where Columbus sailed in boyhood days. 



219 



ITALY IN FOREIGN HANDS 

1500 

While the independent cities of Florence, 
Venice, Genoa, and their like, had been 
rising to power with the impetus of the 
Crusades, and with new views of the 
world and life about them, other countries 
had been taking definite shape and grow- 
ing into unified kingdoms. 

England, France, Spain, and Germany, 
were no longer loose groups of warlike 
tribes, with uncertain boundaries. They 
were nations, under powerful rulers, uni- 
fied to a large degree, and ambitious to 
enlarge their boundaries and possessions. 

Italy, as a result of the civil wars of her 
cities, was now weak, and nearly helpless, 
and France, Spain, and Germany planned 
to divide Italy among themselves. 

The French and Spanish kings made a 

220 



bargain, and each sent armies to the 
south of Italy. 

They found no enemies there to fight 
with, so the King of Spain sent word to 
his general: 

''I think we cannot trust the French. 
You had better act first." 

The Spanish then turned upon the 
French, and took over for Spain all the 
disputed possessions. 

Then the Germans came down to attack 
the Pope of Rome. The pope had no 
army to defend him, so the Germans, 
supposed to be his Christian subjects, 
captured Rome. 

The Germans showed such cruelty and 
brutality, that more harm came to the 
cherished treasures of art and architecture 
than had come to Rome from all the 
ravages of Huns, Goths, or Vandals. 

These devastating raids continued for 
forty or fifty years, until the great nations 
were ready to rest for a time. 

About 1525, we find the greater part of 
Italy in the power of the Spanish kings. 

221 



So she remained for more than a century, 
gradually recovering from the utter ruin 
brought upon her by long years of war. 

She was a subject state, but happier 
and more prosperous than when she was 
torn with civil war. After all, there was 
little of either happiness or prosperity in 
Italy during these centuries. 

Roger Ascham, a famous English writer, 
says of his visit to Italy about 1560: 

'1 thank God my abode in Italy was 
only nine days/* 




A PEASANTS HOUSE IN OSTIA 
A seaport for the Roman navy, fourteen miles firOOl Rome. 



222 



TWO CENTURIES OF WATTING 

1560 TO 1780 

Under the constant hammering of one 
enemy after another, both foreign and 
domestic, the Hves of the people in Italy 
were almost without hope or aspiration. 
They longed only to escape murder or 
starvation. 

During the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries the various Italian states devel- 
oped slowly, under dukes and kings 
appointed largely by foreign powers. 

By the eighteenth century, however, 
these rulers understood their duties better, 
and direct control from outside Italy 
grew less and less. 

Spain was losing her weight as. a lead- 
ing power in Europe by 1700, and through 
the following century a new kingdom, 
Austria, took the influence over Italy that 
Spain had enjoyed a century before. 

223 



No great changes took place on the 
peninsula during these sad years. Little 
tyrants rose, got as much as they could 
from their abused people, and were finally 
driven out, or murdered, to give place to 
new tyrants just as bad. 

In one province, however. Savoy, in 
the northwestern part of Italy, a line of 
rulers came into control which gave evi- 
dence of an intelligent desire to help 
their people to thrive and prosper. This 
line is today represented by the Royal 
Family of United Italy. 




DANTE PRESENTING THE PAINTER GIOTTO TO THE LORD 

OF RAVENNA 



224 



REVOLUTIONS 

By 1775 the world began to bring hope- 
ful news to the crushed, almost helpless 
Italians, as it did to the Greeks, under 
Turkish rule across the Adriatic. 

''The Americans are revolting," one 
Italian whispered to another. ''Can they 
win their independence? Wait and see." 

Dreams long hidden deep in Italian 
hearts arose once more. These were 
dreams of a united Italy, ruling itself, 
free from foreign tyrants of every race. 

"America is free," the voices said, after 
a year or two. The dreams grew brighter. 

Then, after five years more, came 
sounds of shouting and tumult right at 
their very doors. 

"What is that?" 

"The French are revolting. They have 
killed the king, and are now murdering 
the rapacious nobles." 

225 



In Italy events moved rapidly. In 
1796 the great Napoleon appeared, and 
in one swift campaign he crushed the 
armies of Austria, and placed Italy at 
his feet. 

The old lines were now broken. Parts 
of Italy in the north were annexed to 
France. Cities were carefully sacked of 
their choicest treasures. Napoleon had 
swallowed Italy as easily as a chicken 
swallows a grain of corn. 

This seemed enough for the troubled 
peninsula, but it was taking her swiftly 
forward to the goal of her ambitions. 
When the little kingdoms were broken 
up, a new idea of unity came into the 
land; and unity must be realized before 
freedom could be secured. 

Napoleon built roads and bridges. He 
established laws and customs, not for 
different provinces in various ways, but 
for all Italy in one way. Since Charle- 
magne, ten centuries before, no ruler had 
so fostered a national feeling. 

Then Napoleon was overthrown and 

226 



banished. The Httle princes came back, 
but with less assurance than before. They 
had to secure help from Austria. Austria 
saw to it that each revolt in Italy was 
promptly crushed, and the revolters put 
to death or placed in prison. 

But these conditions could not last. 
For nearly ten years the people of Ital}^ 
had seen a great vision. A strong feeling 
of brotherhood had swept over the whole 
land. A sense of nationality never real- 
ized before expressed itself in the cry: 
*'Italy for the Italians." 




THE VEGETABLE SELLER. NAPLES 

227 



THE DESPOTS ARE iVFRAID 

Austria now feared more than ever 
the effect of national ambition in Italy. 
Every king who held despotic power 
wanted to keep things in Europe just as 
they had always been. The nobles, rich 
through the slavery of the people, wanted 
also to keep things just as they were. 

In 1820, the people in Spain revolted, 
and forced their king to sign a constitu- 
tion. 

Aroused by this, the people of Naples 
demanded a constitution from their king, 
like that of Spain; and this he swore to 
give them. 

No sooner was the promise made, than 
the King of Naples was called away to a 
conference by the King of Austria. While 
the people were wondering what this 
meant, an Austrian army appeared. The 
people of Naples were attacked. Their 

228 



constitution was torn up, and hundreds 
of citizens were put to death or put in 
prison as criminals. 

If the authorities heard of a man 
or woman breathing a single word of 
liberty, or a word of hope for a free Italy, 
death or imprisonment was the result. 

But beneath this domination the people 
boiled with the fever of liberty. The 
more Austria, and her despotic puppets 
in Italy, spied, and persecuted, and killed, 
the greater the number of those ready to 
die for Freedom. 




FISH AND OYSTER MERCHANTS NAPLES 



229 



FOUR GREAT MEN 

Four great men arose, during these 
years, to help their fatherland in the 
struggle lor freedom. Three were citi- 
zens, Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cavour. 
One was the Duke of Savoy, Victor 
Emanuel. 

Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cavour were 
about the same age, strong, brilliant, and 
fearless. They had one common aim in 
life, to free Italy, and unite her in one 
great country. 

Mazzini was the dreamer who looked 
ahead, planned, plotted, encouraged. He 
went about Europe in constant danger 
for his life, whispering hope in Italy, and 
begging help in France and England. 

Garibaldi was a soldier, a general so 
dear to Italian hearts that Italian eyes 
stream with tears at the mention of his 
name. 

230 



Cavour was a minister in the court of 
Victor Emanuel of Savoy. He was honest, 
courageous, a keen statesman and leader 
of men. 

Victor Emanuel of Savoy was well 
named. Among the greedy, hateful, cruel 
rulers of his day, he stood forth striving 
honestly and constantly for the greatest 
good of the people in Italy. With an 
earnest desire to serve his countrymen, 
he gave his whole energy to building up a 
nation from the Italian fragments. 

These patriots of Italy found, to their 
sorrow, as Greece had done, that they 
could expect very little help from other 
countries, and that their task must be 
performed by themselves alone. 

No obstacles, however great, could 
hold them back. Year after year they 
labored on toward the goal they all de- 
sired, the unity and freedom of their 
counry. 



231 



REVOLUTION 

1848 

By 1848 the feeling in Italy had spread 
so far, and grown so desperate, that even 
Austria could no longer repress it. One 
after another, towns, cities and states, 
revolted, drove out the princelings, and 
won constitutions. 

Hope rose high in Italy. The day of 
freedom was dawning. Already the patri- 
otic leaders could see the sun. 

But trouble and confusion came from 
their own disputes and mixed-up plans. 
The people were not used to freedom, and 
knew not how to act. Unready to follow 
any leader, they were unable to act to- 
gether. 

The Austrian army rapidly swept over 
the whole peninsula. Bands of patriots 
were dispersed, the constitutions were 
torn up. Men and women, even children, 

232 



were cruelly put to death or were crowded 
into the prisons. 

Through these troubled years the four 
great men, Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cavour, 
and Victor Emanuel, did their part nobly, 
and now they were ready to strive to- 
gether for the freedom of Italy. 

The work of Austria was thoroughly 
done. From coast to coast her troops 
swept away every sign of revolt, and held 
every hamlet in her bloody grip, excepting 
only the provinces of Savoy and Piedmont. 
Piedmont was the home of Victor Emanuel. 
His people were firm, determined, united; 
they were free to rule themselves, and 
were ready to help Italy in the fight for 
liberty. 

Here in this corner of Italy under the 
mountains, people could dream and plan 
in safety. Here Cavour and Victor 
Emanuel could work together, while 
Mazzini and Garibaldi were risking their 
lives in the states controlled by the 
Austrians. 

Victor Emanuel, at the urging of Cavour 

233 



and his friends, accepted a constitution, 
for his httle Kingdom of Piedmont. A 
representative parliament was elected, 
and a government was organized, well 
fitted to carry out the ideals of intelligent 
and patriotic Italians. 

When Austria threatened war, if Victor 
Emanuel did not abandon his methods of 
constitutional government and rule again 
as a despot, he replied: 

''My people are willing to die for free- 
dom. I am ready for exile if that must 
be, but this promise I have made, and I 
shall never break my word." 

He never did. Piedmont stood as a 
beacon light to all patriotic Italians. 




GARIBALDI MAKES HIS GIFT lO VICTOR EMANUEL 

234 



CAVOUR THE STATESMAN 

Cavour now became Prime Minister 
for Piedmont. He had lived in England. 
He knew the great men of Europe, and 
understood world politics. He now pro- 
posed a daring plan. 

At this time, 1854, Russia was prepar- 
ing to capture Constantinople, and to 
control the Bosporus with a free opening 
to the Adriatic sea. 

France and England entered into an 
alliance with Turkey to beat back Russia. 

"Let us raise an army and offer to help 
France and England in their campaign," 
proposed Cavour, speaking in parliament. 

No Italian state had ever dreamed of 
such an attempt. How can Piedmont 
make war as one of the great powers? 
Europe would laugh at us. Italy has 
never made war as a nation. 

Cavour persisted. ^ Victor Emanuel 

235 



backed him up. They made the offer, 
and the other nations, worried at their 
prospects of possible defeat by Russia, 
accepted. 

It was a grand event for Savoy and 
Italy. The Italian troops fought hard, 
and helped to win the war. Cavour was 
admitted to the peace conference in Paris 
as a regular delegate. 

When his turn came to state what Italy 
wanted as her reward, he said: 

"The Italians want an opportunity to 
live in peace and freedom. Austria is the 
arch enemy of our people: She must 
withdraw from Italy, and let us rule our- 
selves." 

. All eyes were turned on the Austrian 
delegate, but he declared that Austria 
must hold what she had in Italy. 

Cavour talked with the English dele- 
gates, but found he could expect little 
help from England. Then he turned to 
Napoleon III of France. They talked 
long. The result was, a little later, an 
alliance between France and Piedmont. 

230 



WAR WITH AUSTRIA 

Soon the word was whispered about in 
Italy: 

'Trance has promised to help us against 
Austria. Let us be bold." 

Arms were made ready. Austria, 
aroused at this, marched upon Italy. But 
Napoleon III of France had his army 
prepared. 

'Tear not, brave Italians," he cried in 
a public meeting; ''I will not forsake you 
till Italy is free from coast to coast." 

Side by side, Italians and French de- 
feated the Austrians in one battle after 
another. In a month, just after a great 
victory. Napoleon dismayed the Italians 
by meeting Austria's demand for peace. 

'What does he mean?" asked the 
Italians. "He promised to set us free 
from coast to coast. The work is only 
begun." 

237 



Cavour resigned in a rage, but Victor 
Emanuel, cool, keen, self-controlled, did 
the best he could for Italy, and settled 
terms of peace, which, in spite of Napo- 
leon's treachery, brought freedom into 
Lombardy, which was added to the King- 
dom of Piedmont. 

The saddest blow was to come. As his 
reward for helping Italy, Napoleon 
demanded of Piedmont the transfer to 
France of Savoy. 

For the good of United Italy, but with 
a sad heart, Victor Emanuel ceded 
to France his choicest possession, the 
land of his ancestors. 

Cavour joined in the agreement. 

'The natural boundaries of Italy,'' he 
said, "should be her mountains. Savoy, 
with Nice, lie across the Alps from Italy. 
If France does not get them now, she 
will persist until she does get them." 

Nice was the native city of Garibaldi. 
He could not see the wisdom of Cavour's 
policy, and declared he would never shake 
his hand again. 

238 



ITALY GROWS 

The loss of Savoy was a bitter loss to 
the Italians, but they had won more than 
they supposed. When the little despots 
of central and south Italy went back 
again to rule their states, they found that 
condidions had changed greatly since 
they left. 

The people no longer dreaded the 
domination of Austria, and now felt free 
to speak of liberty. Austria had learned 
a bitter lesson, and would thereafter leave 
Italy undisturbed. 

Soon the leaders in central Italy de- 
clared that they wished to join United 
Italy, under the rule of Victor Emanuel. 
After some delay this was accomplished, 
and in i860 a parliament was opened by 
King Victor that represented over eleven 
million Italians. 



239 



GARIBALDrS GIFT TO THE KING 

The upper half of Italy was now joined 
in one united kingdom, with a liberal 
constitution, under a king the people 
loved. 

In the south, however, the despots still 
ruled. Gladstone, the English states- 
man, visited this land, and wrote a long 
report. The courts dealt not in justice, 
but in bribes. The poor were ground in 
the dust. Filthy jails were filled with 
people dying for food and air. Most of 
the prisoners were innocent, while the 
''crime" of many was that they had 
worked or had spoken for a free and 
united Italy. 

These southern people did not try to 
join United Italy. They hardly knew 
about it. Not one in fifty could read or 
write. They had suffered so much, and 

240 



were so ignorant, that the spirit of inde- 
pendence had not spread among them. 

But these poor people longed for relief, 
and United Italy, without South Italy 
and Sicily, would be only half a country. 

Garibaldi determined to bring these 
lands into United Italy, as a gift to King 
Victor Emanuel, and to the new kingdom. 

Garibaldi had fled in 1840 to South 
America to escape capture and death from 
Austria. There he served in the army 
two years, learning how to direct and 
control armed men. 

In 1848 he had returned to Italy, and 
gathered a small force, hoping to help win 
freedom at last. But his little band was 
scattered, and the Austrians drove him 
from one refuge to another. 

With his wife, a lovely girl he had 
married in South America, he suffered 
terrible hardships, and finally saw her die 
from exposure on a lonely mountain road. 

Then Garibaldi escaped to America, 
where he worked for a time in a soap 
factory near New York. 

241 



Meanwhile Italy was growing stronger. 
The Austrians were losing their grip. 
Garibaldi heard that Mazzini had planned 
an uprising in Sicil}^ He hastened back 
to Italy, arriving in i860. 

Near Genoa he gathered a thousand 
men, all faithful and daring. With these 
he set sail for Sicily. There, after some 
narrow escapes, he succeeded in landing 
all in safety. 

Sicily was ready for revolt. 

''Garibaldi has come to save us! Gari- 
baldi is here!" 

The cry rang over the island. Palermo 
was taken, and one after another, other 
towns opened their gates to the hero. 

The houses glowed with the colors of 
United Italy. The people gathered in 
the streets, weeping with joy. The awful 
jails were opened, and pale, dying ones, 
were brought out into the sunlight. 

From Sicily, Garibaldi went to the 
mainland, followed by a large army of 
exulting patriots. There, as before, the 
opposing soldiers gave way, more than 

242 



glad to welcome the leader in the fight 
for freedom. Many of the king's troops 
joined his banners. 

In Piedmont, Victor Emanuel and 
Cavour had watched events with growing 
joy. Now Victor Emanuel, seeing that 
some stable government must at once 
be set up in the south, started to meet 
Garibaldi. 

It was a wonderful scene when the king 
and his devoted general entered Naples 
together, and added the south to the 
north of Italy in a united country. 

"This," said the soldier to his king, 
''is my gift to you, and to United Italy." 

When the celebration was over, Gari- 
baldi, almost a god in the eyes of his 
brother Italians, and a large figure in the 
eyes of the world, went quietly back to 
dig his garden in his home at Caprera, 
leaving Victor Emanuel and Cavour to 
construct a government in the distracted 
land he had won with his sword 



243 



VENICE IS ADDED 

Piedmont, several central states, and 
the whole south were now joined in 
United Italy, Venice and Rome were 
still left out. Venice was under Austria, 
and Rome was under the pope, who acted 
as temporal and spiritual ruler, and whose 
rule was maintained by an army from 
France. 

Venice was the next to be secured for 
freedom. 

Prussia had been watching Austria for 
years with a jealous eye. Now she 
planned her downfall. 

Bismark, the prime minister of Prussia, 
said to Cavour: 

^^If you will help us in a war against 
Austria, we will see that you add Venetia 
to United Italy." 

Victor Emanuel had tried in every 

244 



honorable way to induce Austria to cede 
Venice to his kingdom, but all offers were 
refused. 

"Yes," replied the Italian king, at last, 
"we must accept the aid of Prussia." 

So a secret treaty was made, and in 
1866 war was declared. 

The Italian army was badly beaten by 
iVustria, but Austria got a beating still 
worse from Prussia, and sued for peace. 

Prussia kept her word. She demanded 
Venice from Austria, and promptly ceded 
that province to King Victor Emanuel. 

Thus Venice, the city founded by the 
people of Lombardy, when they were 
flying for shelter from the Huns, more 
than a thousand years before, opened her 
gates and joined gladly to the Italian 
Kingdom. 

At this time Victor Emanuel tried to 
persuade Austria to cede the lands just 
east of Venice, bordering the Adriatic sea, 
called the Trentino. 

"These people are all Italian in the 
Trentino," he declared. ''They wish to 

245 



join us. This is really Italian ground, 
and we should have it." 

But Austria stood firm on this matter, 
and the eastern shore • of the Adriatic 
remained under Austrian control till 191 8. 




GARIBALDI 

24Q 



ROME THE CAPITOL 

Now all Italy was one except for Rome. 
Here was a great problem for Victor 
Emanuel to face almost alone. 

The Italians longed to have Rome the 
Capitol of the new kingdom. 

''Rome," said Cavour, ''unites all the 
conditions, moral, historical, and intel- 
lectual, which form the capitol of a great 
state. It remains to convince the Holy 
Father that the Church can be independ- 
ent without temporal power." 

But the great statesman, Cavour, died, 
leaving this last difficult problem to be 
solved. King Victor must solve it alone, 
for Mazzini, the ardent republican, and 
Garibaldi, the rash soldier, could in such 
a matter be of no help. 

Garibaldi, at the head of a volunteer 
army, started, in 1867, to capture Rome, 
as he had captured Sicily, but was held 

247 



back at the command of the king, who 
wished above all things to avoid war. 

The popular applause, however, for 
Garibaldi showed the way Italian people 
felt. 

Those living in the Papal States again 
and again begged the pope to give up the 
temporal rule to the king, but he replied 
to all these demands: 

''I cannot." He felt it his duty to stay 
at the post to which he had been assigned. 

In 1870, however, when France was 
fighting for her life with Prussia, the 
French troops were withdrawn from Rome, 
and King Victor marched into his new 
capitol. 

He was received by the people there 
with acclamations. At the walls of Rome 
the pope ordered a formal defence to be 
made, to show that he yielded his temporal 
rule only to force, and then retired to the 
Vatican, the palace where he dwelt. 

The gates of the city were thrown open, 
and Rome, the ancient city, the center 
of the Catholic world, and a holy spot to 

248 



every Italian, became the capitol of 
United Italy. 

The king and people showed their 
veneration for the pope by giving him 
every honor in his spiritual rule. They 
protected his great income, and provided 
for all his needs as a spiritual ruler. He 
still felt wronged, however, and Pius IX 
never left the Vatican again. 

After his example, later popes remained 
strictly within the Vatican, making them- 
selves prisoners there. In becoming Pope, 
the Head of the Church bids farewell to 
the outside world forever. 

But signs indicate that this will not 
last much longer. After his accession, 
in 1922, the present pope, Pius XI, 
blessed the people of Rome from the 
outer balcony. This blessing was re- 
ceived by the Italians with joy, and with 
the hope that the old-time relations of 
cordial affection between the pope and the 
people of Italy were now to be resumed. 



249 



YEARS OF BUILDING 

With the states of Italy united into one 
country, and the capitol brought back 
to Rome, the prayers of the patriots, 
Cavour, Garibaldi, Mazzini, and their 
associates, had been granted. The gen- 
erous, gallant King of Piedmont had 
become ruler of the Italian people. 

In 1848 this union had seemed to all 
the world an impossible ideal, a forlorn 
hope. The patriots succeeded against 
the foes of their country, because they 
worked and fought together in unselfish 
devotion to one great object. 

Cavour, the builder, Mazzini, the proph- 
et. Garibaldi, the fighter, and Victor 
Emanuel, the King, were as different 
as four men could be, in most ways; but 
all alike in one respect: They wanted 
nothing for themselves. Everything these 
noble men did was for Italy, and for the 
cause of freedom. 

250 



When the unselfish and patriotic pur- 
pose of their fight was realized, help came 
to them from England and from France. 
The liberty won for Italy marked a great 
step forward in the long contest against 
government by divine right, in other 
states of Europe. 

From 1870 onward, much was to be 
done. Italy must be made into a strong, 
efficient nation, and the struggle was 
long and hard. 

For thirty years the Italian people 
labored in the trough of the wave that 
had carried them to victory. 

With the passing of King Victor 
Emanuel, and Cavour, the line of great 
men who had brought I taly so high seemed 
to have ended. Others, equally great, 
were not at once to be found. 

Italy, like Greece, had vast debts and 
little income. Her people, uneducated and 
ignorant, were disappointed that pros- 
perity did not come at once with freedom. 
It was not easy to live down the terrible 
conditions brought by centuries of slavery. 

251 



Her enemies constantly hoped and 
expected that Italy would be torn apart 
in the struggles of the various factions, 
but she did not fall apart. Instead, she 
slowly grew into a stronger and more 
unified state. 

With growing apprehension, Austria 
saw her old servant, Italy, developing 
into a neighbor she must learn to respect. 
In spite of high taxation, bad politicians, 
and poverty, this patient, hard-working 
people advanced along the path of 
progress. ., 

Finding little work, and small wages at 
home, thousands of young men left Italy 
for north and south America, where they 
secured work on railroads and in mills, 
and found also wider opportunities for 
their children. 

These thousands sent money and ideas 
back to Italy from America. Both the 
money and the ideas served to raise the 
standards of the working classes in the 
homeland. 

By 1900, the industrial prosperity for 

252 



which Italy had longed began to come. 
She found work for her people at better 
wages. In place of coal, which she lacked, 
she learned to use the water power that 
came in plenty down her steep hills. 

Even the threatening volcanos were 
harnessed. Holes were drilled in the 
hillside and volcanic steam was led to 
engines and made to do productive work. 




Courtesy Raymond & Whitcomb 

MONLMENT TO VICTOR EMANUEL 



253 



THE GREAT WAR 

During these years the people of Italy 
looked with longing at the lands about 
the head of the Adriatic, still controlled 
by Austria. The dwellers in this country 
were brother I talians, but they were under 
the domination of the alien and despotic 
Empire of Austria. 

The time was coming when the door 
of their opportunity was to be opened. 

In 191 2 war broke out in the Balkan 
States, and this contest added to the 
strength of Serbia and Greece. 

Germany and iVustria aimed to control 
the Balkan Peninsula, and Austria asked 
Italy whether she would help her in an 
attack on Serbia; but Italy refused. 

The next year, 19 14, Austria decided to 
attack Serbia anyway, and the war of all 
Europe began. 

254 



Italy had been allied with Austria and 
Germany. This was a plan of the politi- 
cians, not the people. The Italian people 
still hated Austria. 

In this European war, Italy, like 
Greece, at first remained neutral; but 
gradually the demand of the people, to 
join in the fight against their old time 
oppressor, grew louder. 

While the politicians and statesmen 
haggled with Austria about the Trentino, 
and the other Adriatic districts, the people 
took matters into their own hands. They 
were determined not to lose the oppor- 
tunity of attacking Austria, 

The next year they voted for war, and 
a large army, well equipped, was launched 
against their ancient foe. 

At first the campaign of Italy brought 
victory and pride to the Italians, and 
fear to Austria. Then the Germanic 
allies sent reinforcements and Prussian 
officers to lead the discouraged Austrians. 
Thousands of Italy's best men fell, and 
her people had to endure great privations. 

255 



Again as in past days, Venice prepared 
for siege and possible capture. 

But the Allies hastened to Italy's 
rescue, and her frontier cities were saved. 

Again, when the war was over, Italy 
profited much by her relations with other 
great powers. 

In the peace settlement she won the 
Trentino, and also the peninsula of I stria, 
on the Adriatic, east of Venice. 




Courtesy Raymond 6" Whitcomh 

AMALFI, ITALY 
The veranda of the Capucin Monastery. 

256 



THE TEST OF FREEDOM 

When the great war ended, all was 
confusion. The people of Russia were 
lost in the throes of revolution. Austria, 
once Italy's proud master, had crumbled 
away till only the poor little Duchy was 
left, a beggar where once it had been lord. 
Her people also were in revolt. 

What would the Italian people do? 
Would they join the red ranks of the 
anarchists? Would they overthrow their 
government and kill their leaders? 

The red anarchists did their worst 
to influence the Italians, but they did 
not succeed. Fifty years of freedom had 
saved Italy, for Italy now belonged to 
the people. They did not serve the 
government; the government was their 
own. Slowly the people found their way. 
Thoughtful citizens calmed their excited 
brothers. Order followed confusion, and 

257 



Italy recovered from the shock of war, 
with its people still united. 

Italy may look with some regret on 
the lost province of Savoy, but, as Louis 
Napoleon had emphasized, the people 
there were largely French, and they had, 
by popular vote, given their approval to 
the cession. 

Italy is today mistress of the whole 
peninsula, and of the Italian communi- 
ties on the shore of the Adriatic. 

The boundaries outlined by Cavour, 
seventy years ago, have finally been 
exactly realized. Cavour traced with 
King Victor a line running along the 
Alps that divide Italy from Europe, and 
that is the line that marks her northern 
boundaries today. 

Today Italy is beginning a new life. 
Her boundaries are settled in such a way 
that she has little to fear from wars with 
other nations. After two thousand years 
of war, and fear of war, she can be at 
peace. 

Italy possesses within her boundaries 

258 



everything needed to develop national 
prosperity. She has a race of people 
who have given ample proof of high 
mental power, and of capacity for steady, 
constructive labor. 

There is reason to expect from Italy 
that leadership in thought and achieve- 
ment which the world so greatly needs. 




Copyright Edward Crosby Doughty 

A FOUNTAIN AT ASSISI 

259 



FRANCE 

THE GAULS 

390 B. C. 

In 390 B. C. a tribe of barbarians came 
down into the north of Italy. They were 
great, powerful warriors, with light hair, 
blue eyes, courageous and proud. 

The Romans thought they could easily 
destroy these men from the northern 
wilds, and made sfnall preparations for 
defence against the Gauls, as they were 
named. 

At the first attack, the Romans broke 
and ran for their very lives. They did 
not even dare stay to defend their sacred 
city, and in 390 B. C. Rome was sacked 
by the Gauls. 

As a result of this attack the Romans 
decided that the Gauls were people to be 
feared, and to be conquered if possible. 

260 



These bold fighters belonged to Celtic 
tribes that bore the name of Gauls. 
They occupied a large portion of the land 
now covered by France, and spread over 
into Belgium, Switzerland, and northern 
Italy. 

In these centuries no national boun- 
daries were fixed. Tribes moved back 
and forth, as they conquered others, and 
were later themselves defeated. But the 
Gauls, who finally became an important 
element in the French nation, held the 
greater part of the territory which finally 
became the Kingdom of France. 




RUINS OF A ROMAN WAREHOUSE 
Oi! and wins were kept in the huge earthen jars 



261 



ROME INVADES GAUL 

As Rome grew strong, and built up 
colonies and conquering armies, she re- 
membered the Gauls. By 200 B. C. the 
Romans were already pushing northward 
into the Gallic lands south of the Alps. 

According to her custom, she colonized 
these districts. The Gallic tribes living 
there, cut off by the Alps from their 
relatives in northern Gaul, were not 
able to resist the Roman arms. 

After they were beaten into submission, 
these southern Gauls were treated well 
by the Romans. They were strong in 
battle, and were given honored posts in 
the Roman army. They were intelligent, 
and were therefore given civil rights, and 
many were granted full citizenship. 

Marseilles, then a Greek colony on the 
Mediterranean, was attacked by the 
Gauls from central France, not long after 

262 



this, and appealed to Rome for help. 
Glad of a chance for a new campaign 
into Gaul, Rome gave ready response. 

Having found this district rich and 
fertile, the Romans pushed northward 
from Marseilles, until a large province 
had been added to their possessions. 




Courtesy Raymond & Whitcoinb 

THE ALPS 

Across these snow-clad heights all had to go in ancient days, travelling 

from Gaul to Rome. 

263 



JULIUS CAESAR IN GAUL 

58 B. C. 

When, in 58 B. C, Julius Caesar was 
appointed consul, the Romans had been 
occupying Gaul nearly three hundred 
years. The large Gallic province they 
had conquered was now in danger from 
German tribes beyond the Rhine, and 
also from rebellious leaders among the 
Gauls. It was the hard task of Caesar 
to throw back the enemies of Gaul who 
pressed from without, and to put down 
the rebellion of warlike chiefs from within. 

One after another, Caesar met the 
Germanic tribes from without, and, with 
wonderful success, as related by himself, 
he overcame them all. 

The Gauls were glad at first to be 
delivered from these bloody German 
hordes; but when they learned that 
Caesar intended to remain, and to rule 

264 



the land himself, they were angered, and 
rose in revolt. 

During six years, Caesar marched back 
and forth over Gaul, fighting battles and 
setting things in order. At last, after a 
campaign that nearly brought his defeat, 
he destroyed the last of the Gallic armies, 
and took the leaders in chains to Rome. 
Then all Gaul, from the English Channel 
to the Mediterranean, submitted to his 
rule. 




GERMAN TRIBES RETURNING VICTORIOUS 



265 



THE GAULS PROSPER UNDER 
ROME 

A SURPRISING change now took place 
in Gaul. Caesar had been a stern, cruel 
opponent. He now showed himself a 
generous, wise ruler. He admired the 
intelligence and high character of the 
Gauls. He took them into his army, 
and bestowed favors on them. 

The Gauls, for their part, found the 
organized rule of Rome, with its peace 
and order, and safety from their German 
enemies across the Rhine, much to their 
liking. 

They had lived formerly in continued 
fear of war, famine, and oppression. 
Now, though taxed heavily, and under a 
stern rule, their peace was secure, and 
their comfort greater than ever before. 

Besides this, the Gauls were quick to 
learn the Roman tongue, and the Roman 

266 



wa3^s of life. They even took Roman 
names, and finally gained Roman citizen- 
ship. They were too intelligent not to 
see that civilization was better than 
barbarism. 

Roman arms subdued the Gauls, but 
Roman civilization made them happy; 
and in a short time the Province of Gaul, 
with her cities and growing towns, her 
schools and roads and bridges, was as 
much Roman as Italy was herself. 

From that day to this the people of 
France have been distinguished by great 
intelligence, quickness in adopting new, 
better ideas, and a steadfast faith in their 
ideals of life. 

During the period after Caesar's death, 
when Rome was spreading her civilization 
into Gaul, her own social organization 
was gradually going to pieces. Her citi- 
zens, accustomed to being protected and 
controlled by authority, became weak 
and helpless. Corruption increased, and 
taxes became unbearable. 

Gaul suffered from all this civic decay 

267 



fully as much as any other part of the 
Roman Empire. The Gauls, once so 
strong and independent, also became 
weak, and unable to act without the 
direction of able leaders. The able leaders 
spent their strength in striving for power 
and wealth in Rome. 

From across the Rhine, German tribes 
looked over on the people in Gaul as a 
cat would view a flock of unprotected 
chickens. 

Soon after 400, these German tribes, 
crossing the Rhine on the ice in winter, 
descended upon Gaul. There was little 
fighting. The Gauls, desperate at their 
grinding servitude under Roman tyrants, 
welcomed a change of any kind. 

The Germans were not destructive 
where they were not resisted. They 
filtered down into the Gallic valleys, 
leaving towns and cities quite undis- 
turbed. Rome could do nothing now to 
stem this tide of invasion, and her old 
subjects in Gaul had little cause to regret 



the change.- 



268 



The arrival of the German tribes was 
perhaps a blessing to Gaul in more ways 
than one, for in 451 a danger came that 
forboded terror and destruction to the 
whole land. The Huns, under Attila, came. 

This fierce race from Asia had swept 
all before it, and now seemed about to 
exterminate the western peoples. 

Against Attila and his horde of Huns, 
the Germans gladly joined forces with the 
Gauls and Goths and Saxons. In the 
great battle at Chalons, called the Battle 
of the Nations, Attila was defeated, and 
the Huns had to abandon Gaul forever. 




PRIESTS AND SOLDIERS CELEBRATING A VICTORY 

269 



THE FRANKS - CLOVIS 

475 

Along the Rhine another German 
tribe, the Franks, had been increasing in 
strength and numbers. Those Franks 
who returned from Gaul told how rich, 
how fertile, and how unprotected this 
region was. 

When this news spread among the 
Franks, they packed up by thousands 
and moved in. 

These Franks accepted no central au- 
thority. They went in bands of a few 
thousand, each ruled by a tribal chief. 
Unless he happened to be a man of 
unusual determination and power, his 
authority was restricted to what the 
soldiers were willing to give him. 

Clovis was such a man. He was a 
king with a very small army and a very 

270 



great ambition. No sooner had he made 
himself at home in the north of Gaul, 
than he attacked a Roman governor on 
the south. 

Clovis won this campaign quickly, and 
soon extended his domain over a large 
part of northern Gaul. He now looked 
about for larger fields to conquer. 

Roman institutions, when the Roman 
Empire went to pieces, were in chaos. 
Most of them were shattered. The Ro- 
man Church, true to its traditions, true 
to its faith, remained steadfast. It was 
a rock standing firm in tossing waters. 

In their march southward, the Franks 
came upon strange groups of men, who 
neither fought nor ran. Within their 
monasteries, they received the fierce con- 
querors with dignified calm. 

"Who can these unarmed men be,'* 
said the Franks, "that fear us not?*' 

"We trust in our God, the protector of 
those who believe in him," replied the 
monks. 

Stirred by this courage and faith, the 

271 



childlike Franks repaid their devotion 
with unexpected mercy and deference. 

Greatly did the Catholic Church of 
Rome need all the respect and all the 
help it could get. The other German 
tribes, though many were already Chris- 
tians, paid no allegiance to the Pope of 
Rome, nor to the bishops. The Roman 
Church in Gaul, brave and courageous as 
its members were, seemed on the verge 
of ruin. 

' 'Perhaps,'^ said the anxious bishops, 
"we can win these Franks to our cause, 
and make them allies of the Roman 
Church." 

Clovis was one who roused their ad- 
miration. They sought his acquaintance 
and won his friendship. Next they intro- 
duced him to a lovely princess, Clotilda, 
who was a devout Catholic. 

Clovis married Clotilda, and Clotilda 
converted Clovis to Christianity. It is 
related that in the great battle of Soissons, 
fought in 486, Clovis was on the verge of 
defeat. Suddenly he cried aloud that if 

272 



the Christian God would give him the 
victory he would worship that God 
forever. 

The battle turned at once in his favor, 
and Clovis kept his word. He became a 
Christian, and his soldiers followed his 
example. 




CLOVIS MAKES HIS VOW 



273 



THE NEW KINGDOM -FRANCE 

Clovis had now allied himself to the 
strongest organized power in Gaul, the 
Roman Church. Thousands of brave 
people joined his standards. Battle after 
battle was won, till at last he was master 
of the whole territory south of Brittany. 

Theodoric, in Italy, about this time, 
found a way to kill off every man who 
might revolt against his rule. Clovis 
did the same in Gaul. Not even a rela- 
tive was left alive who might stir up 
revolt against him. 

Thus Clovis, the Prankish king, con- 
quered all Gaul, and built up again the 
Roman Church, which kept alive the 
best institutions of the old civilization. 
He brought under his control many 
provinces, welding them into one great 
nation, and that nation, from this time 
on, has been called by the name of France. 



274 



CLOVIS TO CHARLEMAGNE 

511 TO 768 

Clovis left his kingdom to four sons. 
They spread his boundaries wider than 
before, till their rule covered much of 
Germany. When they died, the king- 
dom was split up still more, and there 
was no such unity as it had possessed 
under Clovis. 

These Prankish rulers all carried out, 
through murder and violence, the ideas of 
power that Clovis had developed. Un- 
happily they were without restraint of 
any kind. 

The fact that they accepted the Chris- 
tian faith did not stop them from plung- 
ing into the wildest kind of living. 

No constitution could be strong under 
a life like this, and soon the line of 
Prankish kings began to fade. Illness 

275 



and early death overtook them. A num- 
ber of their children were weak and 
deformed, both in mind and body. 

These weak and futile kings needed 
help and advice. An officer, called the 
Mayor of the Palace, was appointed to 
help direct affairs. 

Soon this official became more powerful 
than the king, and then began to control 
matters himself. The next step was to 
put an end to the line of kings descended 
from Clovis, and to grasp the power for 
a new line. 

This new authority came to a great 
warrior and organizer, Charles M artel. 
Charles M artel struck blow after blow on 
all sides, till he had reduced to submission 
a great district, covering France and 
Germany. 

The Arabs, from North Africa, had 
been overrunning Spain. They now 
pushed into France, and threatened to 
lay waste that land. 

Charles M artel gathered a large army, 
attacked the Arabs furiously at Tours in 

276 



^Z'^^ and drove them in a rout back into 
Spain. 

This exploit makes his name famous, 
for he saved Europe against a cruel foe. 

Charles Martel left a son, Pippin, who 
carried his domains to wider boundaries 
still. Pippin made friends with the Pope 
of Rome, helped to build the power of 
the Church, gave to the Pope large tracts 
of land he had conquered in Italy, and is 
remembered above all other things as a 
protector and supporter of the Roman 
Church. 




RUINS FROM THE LATEST WAR 
All that is left of a beautiful church in northern France. 

277 



CHARLEMAGNE 

768 TO 814 

Charlemagne, the son of Pippin, 
inherited sole leadership in this great 
kingdom while he was still a young man. 

Charlemagne began at once to push 
out the borders of his kingdom. No 
year passed without some campaign. 
Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and 
parts of Spain, all bowed before his 
mighty arm. 

He was a fierce, even a cruel conqueror, 
but a wise, generous, considerate ruler. 
Defeated nations were dominated with all 
possible consideration for their develop- 
ment and advantage. 

Charlemagne supported and watched 
over the people of the Roman Church 
in all parts of his kingdom, with generous 

278 



care. He helped the monasteries to 
raise their standards of culture and 
learning. He was a student himself, and 
fostered learning among his subjects. 
In the year 780, he called to his capital 
from York, in England, the scholarly 
monk Alcuin, who was charged with the 
preparation of an educational system for 
the Empire. 

Under the wise rule of Charlemagne, 
his vast empire settled into a state of 
peace and prosperity more complete 
than in any period since the best days of 
the Roman rule. 

One day when Charlemagne, being in 
Rome, knelt at prayer, the pope quietly 
stepped up behind him and placed a 
golden crown upon his head, proclaiming 
him Emperor, and head of the Holy 
Roman Empire. 

The act was applauded with cries of 
jOy by the throng in the church, while 
the thousands on the streets showed real 
eelight. 

The respect and confidence Charle- 

279 



magne won from the mixed and scattered 
races under his rule was a proof of great- 
ness reached by few leaders in the history 
of the world. 




GOLDEN DAYS OF PEACE 
280 



THE RISE OF FEUDALISM 

When Charlemagne died there was no 
one strong enough to take his place. His 
sons and grandsons fought among them- 
selves, and soon the great empire broke 
up. 

In Fraace there was confusion. No 
central power existed to protect citizens, 
to carry out the laws, to keep back 
foreign invaders. 

Strong men, however, here and there, 
rose to protect their own lands, and the 
people living on them. These princes 
built fortified castles, organized little 
armies, drilled their troops, and afforded 
their dependents a good measure of 
safety and prosperity. 

It was only natural that others, seeing 
this good fortune, should wish to share 
such comfort in times of danger. 

281 



**If you will protect us, they said, we 
will place our lands and our services at 
your disposal." 

Or it might be that the strong princes, 
knowing their strength, said to the neigh- 
bors: 

"Place your lands and your services at 
our disposal, and we will protect you. 
If you do not, we shall have to drive you 
out and place others there who will do as 
we wish." 

Whichever way it began, there was no 
better plan for either peasant or noble. 
Only strong groups under capable leader- 
ship could exist long in rough times like 
those. 

As a result, after the ninth century, 
France came to be covered with dukedoms 
and counties. In each of these little 
realms a reigning family held sway. 
They lived in fortified castles; and around 
them were the' fields of lesser nobles and 
small land-holders. 

The people who occupied the land 
paid to the lord in the castle tribute from 

282 



their farms. They also raised soldiers for 
his army when he went to war. He was 
at war most of the time. 

In his turn the lord pledged to protect 
these dependents from violence both 
domestic and foreign. He held courts of 
justice, settled disputes, made laws and 
rules of conduct, and watched over the 
safety and prosperity of all his feudal 
retainers. 

In this way was developed the social 
organization called the feudal system. 
It arose from the necessity of securing 
protection when no central authority 
was strong enough to assure protection, 
and it lasted, not only in France, but in 
Europe and England also, during several 
centuries. 

There was always some prince who 
claimed to be supreme ruler of France, 
and was called the King, but in this 
period the King often had less real 
power than some of his proud feudal sub- 
jects. 

When national kings were powerful, 

283 



the petty rulers had less authority, but 
when the eentral government was weak, 
the lords m their castles were as haughty 
and independent as any king. 




FEUDAL TOWERS 
Deep in the dark, damp dungev)ns of the lower floors, lay prisoners, 
kept there by tlie hatred of a feudal loni 



2S4 



THE NORMANS 

The Northmen, who set sail in great 
numbers from Scandinavia, during the 
period we now study, found the lands in 
northern France much to their liking. 

The people in France had no greater 
success in driving them out than did 
those of southern Italy, during this same 
period. Of all the races in Europe, these 
Northmen were for centuries the most 
dreaded in battle. 

After the death of Charlemagne, the 
Northmen came in ever increasing num- 
bers, and proposed to settle in France, to 
make it their home. 

Seeing no hope of driving them out, 
the French king granted them lands in 
the north of France on condition that 
they swear allegiance to him, and that 
they become Christians. 

The Northmen agreed to all this, and 

285 



organized a state, called Normandy. 
There they held control for many cen- 
turies, playing an important part in the 
history and in the life of France. 

Although they had secured a home on 
the Seine, groups of these adventurous 
Normans continued to make expeditions 
for plunder on the coasts of Germany and 
Italy, and in the eleventh century, secured 
control of Sicily. 




THE BASIN OF APOLLO, VERSAILLES, FRANCE 



286 



THE HOUSE OF CAPET 

By the year 900 a new influence began 
to work in France. 

The land had been broken up more 
and more into small divisions, ruled by 
independent nobles. It seemed as if no 
power could u^ite these provinces again 
into a single kingdom. 

Then a family in the north of France 
developed remarkable powers of leader- 
ship, that were finally to perform this 
miracle. That family was known as the 
house of Capet. 

The Capets held in their own right the 
rich lands about Paris on the Seine, and 
domains on the Loire. This made them 
rich and powerful. 

The Capets came to be regarded as the 
rightful rulers of France. This secured 
for them a certain respect and support, 
which went with that title. 

287 



Beside these two advantages, the Capets 
had the support of the Church. The 
Church of Rome longed to see a united 
kingdom in France, and gladly joined 
forces with the Capets to bring this about. 

The first task was to compel the nobles 
throughout the royal domains to obey 
the king, and this was no easy work. 
Behind their walls and towers these 
nobles, many of them robbers and mur- 
derers, defied the king. 

Year after year, however, the Capets 
kept up the fight. Castle after castle 
was stormed, the defenders were killed or 
captured, and the poor prisoners, for 
these castles always had dungeons full of 
starving men and women, were set free. 
Then the castle would be destroyed. 

In this way the kings of the House of 
Capet forced their nobles to obey them, 
and brought order into their domains. 

While this went forward, plans were 
always on foot to enlarge their direct 
holdings of land, and thus increase their 
wealth and their armies 

288 



Year after year, through a long series 
of centuries, this wonderful house held 
firmly to its course. The families of 
Clovis and Charlemagne, demoralized by 
excesses and bad living, disappeared; 
but the descendants of Hugh Capet were 
strong enough, generation after genera- 
tion, to carry on the policies of the House. 




MOUNT SAINT MICHEL, NORTHERN FRANCE 

Surrounded by quicksands, and by water at high tide, this rocky town 

has resisted with success all attacks by a foreign foe. 



289 



HOW THE CRUSADES HELPED 

The Crusades, beginning about iioo, 
helped the Capets to build a nation in 
France. 

The people then were divided into 
three classes. 

The clergy, all who served the Church, 
were called the First Estate. 

The nobles, men who did no work, 
bLt who fought in battle, were called the 
Second Estate. 

The men, both serfs and freemen, who 
labored to support the clergy and the 
nobles, were called the Third Estate. 

The Crusades put a stop, by general 
agreement, to most of the local fighting 
in France. This left the nobles with 
little to do. They were excited by the 
thought of going to campaign and to 
plunder in strange, rich lands, so great 
numbers joined the Crusades. 

290 



Idle, unsteady, adventurous men of 
the Third Estate would naturally also be 
eager to take part in these expeditions, 
and the retainers enlisted in great numbers 
with their lords. 

The nobles with great estates would 
wish to leave at home sober, industrious, 
trustworthy people to take care of them. 
In a number of instances, the wives of 
the nobles were left in charge of the 
castles and the estates, and some of 
these women proved very capable execu- 
tives. 

Through these crusading expeditions, 
it came about that rebellious nobles, and 
restless men from the laboring Third 
Estate, left France in great numbers, 
and thousands of them never returned. 
The nobles who did get back to France 
were seriously impoverished. 

Meanwhile the leaders of the Capets 
decided that they were needed more in 
France than in Jerusalem. It was their 
great opportunity. 

Many estates, that were left without 

291 



their lords, were brought under the 
direction of the crown, and the serious, 
industrious workers, left at home, became 
staunch adherents to the King of France. 




THE AGED SAINT LOUIS IX IN PALESTINE 

292 



PHILIP II 

1180-1223. 

Philip II was a Capet who did so 
much to develop France, and to raise 
the fortunes of his house, that his reign 
is entitled to a story by itself. 

Philip II was fifteen when he became 
king. At that age he took the field 
against his foes, and soon had swept all 
the northeastern part of France clear of 
dangers to his crown. He organized the 
districts as he won them, and at once 
appointed officers of his own choosing to 
govern the conquered domains. 

Philip wished greatly to get Normandy, 
and other parts of France, away from 
the English king, Richard I, known as 
the lion-hearted. Richard was, however, 
more than a match for Philip in war, and 
was the victor in each contest. 

Richard at last started out to take 

293 



part in the Crusades. Philip also agreed 
to go, but returned before reaching 
Palestine, and plotted with John, Rich- 
ard's unworthy brother. 

''You wish to steal away your brother 
Richard's kingdom," said Philip. "But 
if he returns, who then will save you? 
Give me Normandy, and I will support 
your cause.'* 

To this John agreed. 

The two conspirators learned with 
delight that Richard had been captured 
in Austria, on his way back from Pales- 
tine, and was held prisoner. Both Philip 
and John hoped he would be kept in 
prison, but some months later, there 
came the news that Richard had escaped. 
Richard resumed his throne in England 
and promptly started a campaign against 
Philip. Richard was successful, but died 
in battle, in 1199, leaving John king of 
England. 

Philip's turn had now come. He soon 
found ways to entrap the insolent and 
faithless John, and within a few years 

294 



all the English lands in France, north of 
the Loire, including Normandy, fell into 
the hands of the French king, and became 
parts of the new French nation. 




THE LITTLE SAINT LOUIS IX GIVING ALMS 



295 



THE ALBIGENSES 

Another movement, that brought more 
power to PhiHp II, was the persecution of 
the Albigenses, who held provinces in the 
south of France. The Albigenses were 
classed as heretics. Heretics were people 
who did not worship as the Roman 
Church commanded. 

The bishops warned these people to 
worship in the Roman way, but they 
held to their own customs. Then a 
terrible persecution took place. 

Armies were sent against the heretics, 
and they were overcome and slaughtered. 
Men, women, and children died without 
hope of mercy, because they did not 
worship as they were told. 

The province of Toulouse was, after the 
massacre, left without leaders, and it 
quickly came under the control of King 
Philip. 

296 



Philip had by 1220 made himself so 
m.uch miore powerful than any rival, that 
none dared to oppose him, and he was 
becoming King of France in fact as well 
as in name. 

All through the north of France there 
were no longer dukes of this, or counts of 
that, or lords of so-and-so, who were 
strong enough . to defy the king. Their 
titles they could keep, but their power 



was gone. 



The lords in their feudal castles had for 
the most part made life miserable for the 
common folks. The highways were un- 
safe, and at any moment a traveller 
might be attacked, robbed, perhaps killed, 
or thrust into a foul dungeon, and held 
for ransom or revenge. 

Under such conditions, trade between 
the towns could not develop. Philip 
overcame the robber barons, made the 
roads safe, and enabled trade to multiply. 
Northern France became prosperous and 
contented, with wealth and comfort far 
greater than it had ever before known. 

297 



THE RISE OF TOWNS 

During the period while the Capets 
were building the French nation, a change 
was taking place among the people. 

In old Roman days towns and cities, 
w^ell built, well arranged, and at first, 
well governed, were dotted here and 
there through Gaul. The Franks cared 
nothing for town life, and, with the 
constant wars that covered the land, 
these towns and cities disappeared. 

While feudal barons fought and robbed 
to please themselves, there was little 
chance for towns to grow, and the work- 
ing men could only labor in the fields. 

When the roads became more secure, 
and property was protected, the desire 
for trade and town life could be gratified. 

Gradually those who liked to trade, to 
keep stores, to make cloth and shoes and 

298 



hats, and other needed articles, gathered 
more and more into towns and cities. 

The Capets found that these towns and 
cities increased their wealth and power, 
so they helped to make them prosperous. 

Under Philip II, by 1200, these towns 
in France had grown until they took an 
important part in the national life. 

As the cities grew stronger, the feudal 
barons became weaker, and thus the 
growth of city life helped to develop the 
strength and unity of France as a nation. 




Copyright Raymond & Whitcomb 

THE CASTLE OF RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED 
IN FRANCE 

299 



SAINT LOUIS IX 

1226-1270 

Louis IX, known as Saint Louis, a 
grandson of Philip II, became king at the 
age of nine. 

The nobles, seeing a child on the throne, 
eagerly joined in a rebellion against the 
crown. 

Philip II had, during his rule, made the 
national authority strong. Now the 
nobles no longer possessed their former 
power, but they thought they could 
overcome the child king, Louis IX, and 
regain their old independence. 

The nobles did not know the capacity 
of the mother who watched over the 
fortunes of her boy. So quickly and so 
cleverly did she act, that the nobles were 
divided, were set to fighting among them- 
selves, and were soon forced to accept the 
authority of the young king 

300 



The queen mother watched anxiously 
over the education of Louis I X. She was 
a pious, loving, intelligent woman, and 
trained her boy to be a pious, loving, 
conscientious king. 

As Louis grew up, he showed that he 
was able to protect and to govern his 
kingdom. Foes from without were forced 
to stop their attacks on France. Foes 
from within learned to respect his strength, 
and honor his justice and generosity. 

"I wish to protect my own lands and 
my own people," he said. 'T wish to 
have nothing that does not belong to me, 
and I wish to see all men happy and at 
peace." 

Philip II, his grandfather, had built up 
and consolidated the French nation. 
Louis IX did not add much to the lands 
of France, but he organized and developed 
the spirit of the kingdom. 

He found France with a loose, weak 
government. The people did not trust 
each other. They received but scant 
justice from the courts and judges. 

301 



Louis I X worked day and night to see 
that better laws were made, better judges 
appointed, and that justice was done to all. 

''What is right must always be done," 
he said. ''The poorest peasant in France 
must be assured of justice as well as the 
greatest noble." If Louis found a great 
man doing wrong, that man was punished, 
no matter what his rank. 

Louis IX made his name for honest 
justice so famous that kings in other 
lands came to seek his advice, and ask 
him to judge between them. 

The Roman Church blessed him for his 
pious, devoted life, and, to honor his 
great virtue, made him a saint. 

Louis I X found the kingdom of France 
still weak and disorganized. He gave it 
good laws, and forced all to obey the laws, 
and to recognize his authority as king. 

Under Louis IX the French people 
learned to trust and respect each other 
more than ever before, and to place their 
allegiance to their country and to their 
king above all other ties. 

302 



THE END OF THE CAPETS 

1328 

During the fifty years after the death 
of Saint Louis IX, in 1328, several kings 
followed. They did not greatly change 
the boundaries of France, nor did they 
greatly change her laws or customs. 

The respect for the central government, 
represented by the king and his court, 
gradually increased. The power of the 
king to raise taxes to pay his officials, 
and to support his army also gradually 
increased. 

The people of France were learning to 
think more of their ties to their king and 
to the nation than of the lords who ruled 
them at home. 

The number of serfs, who could be 
treated almost as slaves by their lords, 
was growing less and less. The number 
of free men, who could own property, and 

303 



enjoy the rewards of their own efforts, 
grew more and more. 

The Capets had now ruled in France, 
in direct succession, from father to son, 
for three hundred and fifty years. France 
owed more to this long Hne of kings than 
any other nation owed to any other 
royal family. 

The Capets had found a land ruled by 
hundreds of lawless nobles, where life 
could hardly be endured; and they had 
given millions of these people a central 
government, covering a large portion of 
France, with common laws, common 
languages, common customs of life, and 
a common opportunity for safety and 
comfort. 

But the death of Louis I X, leaving no 
son, brought the line of Capets to an end. 

Under the French law, no daughter 
could inherit the throne of the king. 

Henry III, King of England, claimed 
the throne because his mother was a 
daughter of a French king. His claims 
were denied by the French council, for 

304 



France did not wish to be ruled by a 
king of England. 

At last they decided to give the crown 
to a prince of the house of Valois, Philip VI. 




JEAN D'ARC 

305 



THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR 

1338 TO 1435 

When Philip VI came to the throne, 
in 1328, war clouds hung deep and dark 
over France and England. 

In the first place, Edward III, now King 
of England, claimed the throne of France, 
because he also was a descendant of the 
royal line. He actually ruled a large district 
of France, as his own inherited estates. 

The French denied his right to the 
throne, and longed to take every foot of 
French soil out of his control. 

In the second place, Flanders, which 
is now Belgium and Holland, had become 
a rich manufacturing center. Flanders 
was under the rule of France, but did 
most of her trading with England. Flan- 
ders made woolens, and depended on 
England for her wool supply 

''You must trade mostly with the 

306 



French people," said the French king to 
Flanders. 

''If you don't give us most of your 
trade," said England, 'Ve will cut off 
your wool supply." 

Poor Flanders had to obey England or 
close up shop. 

War between England and France was 
the only way of settling such disputes in 
those days, and war they had. It was a 
terrible war, that lasted so long it was 
called The Hundred Years War. 

Unhappy France! Her nobles began 
to fight among themselves about who 
should be king. This gave the English 
a good chance to attack. 

Edward III decided that he must have 
a French port to use as a landing place, 
during his campaigns. In 1346 he 
marched to attack Calais. 

The army of Edward III was small, 
and a great force of French cavaliers 
pursued them. At Crecy the English 
halted to give battle. The French viewed 
them with great contempt, 

307 



"See the infants, all on foot. They 
are just peasants," cried a French leader. 
Grown men usually fought on horseback 
in those days. 

With that the French nobles, on their 
splendid horses, in their splendid armor, 
without organization or direction,charged 
on the English infantry. 

They were met by a storm of arrows, 
shot from the English long bows, coming 
swift and true as bullets. Never before 
had the French met such fighters. 

Horses and nobles fell in tangled 
masses on the plain. They never got 
close enough to the English bowmen to 
do them great harm, but died by thou- 
sands in their charge. 

So Edward III won the battle of 
Crecy, and marched on to capture Calais. 
The courageous people defended their city 
against Edward III for almost a year. 
Then famine overcame them, and they 
were driven from Calais with great cruelty. 

This gave the English a port in France 
that they kept for two hundred years. 

308 



In 1356, the Black Prince, son of 
Edward III, led another English army, 
and attacked France from the west. 
Again a great force of French nobles 
attacked, sure of their success against an 
English army of footmen, hardly a fifth 
their number. 

Again a storm of arrows flew into the 
faces of the horsemen. Again they fell 
by thousands, dying before they could 
reach their foes to strike. This battle 
of Poitiers was another famous victory, 
won by the Black Prince, and his English 
bowmen, against the French. 

France now suffered terribly. Her 
country, torn by wars among her own 
people, and overrun by English armies, 
was laid waste. Starvation and despair 
settled over the people, who knew not 
how to save themselves. 



309 



BERTRAND DU GUESCLIN 

A NEW figure now appeared in France. 
In 1365, Bertrand* Du Guesclin became a 
leader in the French army. 

Fabius, in Rome, had wearied and 
discouraged the great Hannibal by fol- 
lowing him from place to place, never 
giving battle, but never letting Hannibal 
rest. 

''Let us wear out these English," said 
Du Guesclin, when he became general. 
"They have better soldiers than ours, 
and could probably defeat us again in 
pitched battle. But we can follow them 
about, and keep food out of their reach. 
They will grow weary at last." 

So it turned out. Du Guesclin followed 
the invaders with an army. When the 
English advanced, the French retreated. 
When the English retreated, the French 
again pursued. 

310 



Small groups of English soldiers, as 
they went in search of food, were from 
time to time captured. At night the 
English would be kept awake by fear of 
attacks. 

At last the tide turned for France. 
City after city, that had been captured by 
the English, was retaken again by Du 
Guesclin. 

The English grew weary of such expen- 
sive warfare, and in 1380 asked for a truce. 
They then retired from France, having 
lost all their possessions in that country 
except a few fortified cities. 

r 




MONSTERS ON NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL. PARIS 

311 



CIVIL WAR IN FRANCE 

Freed for the time from the EngHsh 
oppression by the clever and gallant Du 
Guesclin, the French, instead of building 
up their shattered country, began to 
fight among themselves. 

Several families wished to obtain the 
crown and to rule in France. Murders, 
furious deeds of cruelty, war to the death, 
came to be part of the French daily life. 

With knowledge of these conditions in 
France, Henry V, then King of England, 
decided that a fresh opportunity had 
arrived. 

The people of England were none too 
quiet or contented themselves. 

''If I go to war with France,'* said 
Henry, "I can surely beat her now. My 
people will forget to fight each other if I 
set them to fighting the French. After 

312 



a successful campaign in France I shall 
be popular at home." 

It all turned out just as he hoped. The 
French, exhausted with fighting, and 
famine and disease, had no strength left 
with which to repel the forces of Henry 
V. 

In 141 5, at Agincourt, famous in history, 
Henry gained another victory like those 
of Crecy and Poitiers. 

The little English force was confronted 
by a French army more than three times 
as large. The French, sure of success, 
openly showed their contempt for Henry's 
army, but they suffered a bitter defeat, 
with terrible slaughter. 

Meanwhile the French princes mur- 
dered each other, in their greedy strife 
to gain wealth and power. 

Henry V, with none to oppose him, 
marched on taking cities and provinces, 
till he had nearly all France at his mercy. 

At last, by a disgraceful treaty, Henry 
V became actual master of France, though 
he did not take the title of King. 

313 



THE DAUPHIN 

In the south of France were a few 
cities that refused to recognize this shame- 
ful treaty. Charles VI, the mad King, 
died in 1422. His eldest son, the Dau- 
phin, who had fled to Poitiers, was then 
proclaimed King of France, Charles VII. 

Charles was weak, ignorant, and timid. 
He did little to lead his followers on to 
better things, but they stirred up enough 
rebellion to anger the English. 

"We will go south," said the English 
generals, "and will teach those people a 
lesson they will not soon forget. They 
must be made to understand that we are 
masters of France." 

In 1428 the English marched to capture 
Orleans, the one large city which still 
supported the cause of Charles VII, and 
the crown of France. After the capture 
of Orleans, it would be easy to bring under 

314 



control the remaining territory of the 
South. 

The people of Orleans were courageous 
and determined: and through a long 
winter, they defended their city against 
the invader. The English drew their 
siege lines closer and closer about the city, 
while famine and disease made the people 
weaker and weaker. 

Was there no hope for France? Her 
large cities, all but Orleans, were in the 
hands of the English. Her great families 
were fighting among themselves, and 
seemed to care nothing for France. The 
King, Charles VH, made feeble plans for 
this, and stupid schemes for that, but 
accomplished nothing. 

The kingdom was without a leader, 
without hope, without courage, without 
confidence in any soul who could raise the 
people up and save the country from com- 
plete national ruin. 



315 



JEANNE D'ARC 

Jeanne D*arc was born in a village in 
the province of Champagne, near Orleans. 
In 1428 she was sixteen years old. 

Jeanne had always been a religious 
child. During two or three years she had 
heard voices from heaven. They told her 
of her great mission, to save France. 

For a long time she said nothing of these 
voices, but she was filled with spiritual 
rapture and patriotic zeal. 

At last the voices said the time had 
come for action. She must go to the 
king. She must ask for soldiers, and 
must use these to save the people of 
Orleans. 

Of course her parents held her back, 
and the village friends thought she was 
out of her head. 

''What can a slight and feeble maid of 

316 



sixteen do in war against the English?" 
they cried. *'It is nonsense." 

Jeanne begged them to help her, but 
she begged in vain, so she silently stole 
away from the little home she was never 
to see again. 

First Jeanne went to the camp, where 
the king's army lay. There she begged 
so ardently, and made such a deep impres- 
sion with her devotion, that they gave 
her an escort and sent her to King Charles 
VII, who was then at Chinon. 

Through every danger on the road she 
went secure. When she reached the king 
they tested her in many ways, for they 
were suspicious of all strangers. 

But Jeanne triumphed in every test. 
All questions she answered with such 
wonderful skill that some actually be- 
lieved she was guided by the saints in 
heaven. 

''Give me soldiers. I must save the 
people of Orleans. I must save them. 
Oh, give me soldiers." 

Day after day she pled before the king. 

317 



He kept putting her off, but at last she 
had her way. 

Jeanne D'arc was given a war horse, 
a suit of white armor, a white banner, and 
a group of retainers. With these she led 
a small army against the English, who 
besieged Orleans. 

As Jeanne D'arc advanced, with her 
white armor and banner, more soldiers 
joined her ranks. They told stories of 
her spirit helpers, and all took fresh 
courage. 

In Orleans all was black despair. The 
food was gone, sickness and starvation 
covered the city. 

Suddenly one evening the people heard 
sounds of fighting outside. They rushed 
to the gates. Yes, an army was fighting 
its way through the English lines. 

Then, in through the gates and the city 
streets rode a maiden at the head of a 
troop. In the glare of the torches they 
saw her white banner and her gleaming 
armor. 

Close behind this splendid figure came 

318 



great wagons laden with food. In the 
flaming Ughts Jeanne seemed to these 
despairing people like a saviour sent 
straight from heaven. 

Soon the stories of this wonderful girl 
spread all about the city. The people 
went nearly mad with excitement. 

"She will lead us. She will save us. 
She shall be ours, the Maid of Orleans," 
they shouted in the streets. 

With the food and hope brought by 
Jeanne D'arc, these people were made like 
new. Instead of dying like rats in a trap, 
they rushed to arms, and, led by Jeanne 
D'arc, they attacked the English. 

On their side, the English, hearing of 
this wonderful maid, and seeing her with 
her gleaming armor, and white banner, 
at the head of her troops, took fright. 

They said that Jeanne got her help, not 
from heaven, but from the Devil himself, 
and they had small hope of winning 
against a limb of Satan. 

Furious, but afraid, the English finally 
gave up the siege of Orleans and hurried 

319 



away, leaving their baggage and provi- 
sions behind them. 

The French were now aroused, and the 
EngUsh were discouraged. Inspired by 
Jeanne D'arc, the French took city after 
city, until at last Reims fell into their 
hands. 

''Now," said Jeanne/ 'let us crown King 
Charles in the great cathedral at Reims, 
and my work will be done." 

So at Reims Charles VII was crov/ned, 
and was accepted as the rightful King of 
France, while Jeanne D'arc knelt beside 
him, tears of joy streaming from her eyes. 

Jeanne then wanted to go back to her 
mother, but the French thought she could 
help win them more victories. 

She consented to continue her services, 
and in a small skirmish she was captured 
by the Duke of Burgundy. 

After several months spent in vile 
prisons, Jeanne D'arc was sold to the 
English, who hated her, and wished her 
death. 

The English persecuted her in a long 

320 



proceeding, which they called a trial. 
They charged her with being in league 
with Satan, and they finally, in 143 1, 
condemned her to death by fire. 

Did Charles VII come to her help? Did 
he try to buy her back from the Englivsh? 
Did he offer to exchange other prisoners 
for her? Did he send comfort and sup- 
port to this fainting, dying maid, who 
had won for him the kingdom and had 
saved France. 

No. Charles VII left her to her fate, 
and simply took the credit to himself for 
all that had been accomplished by the 
inspired maid. 

The flames that rose about Jeanne 
D'arc in the market place of Rouen ended 
her life on earth, but they did more than 
to burn that frail body. Into the hearts 
of countless millions the blazing glory of 
a poor peasant girl, who died for the 
country she had saved, has been burned 
so deeply that it. shall never be forgotten 
till the end of time. 



321 



THE END OF THE HUNDRED 
YEARS WAR 

1449 

The English hoped by the death of 
Jeanne D'arc to turn the tide again in 
their favor, but it worked just the other 
way. 

Jeanne D'arc had inspired her people 
with a new patriotism, new hope, a new 
feeling of national pride and unity. 

In her death this feeling became far 
more intense than in her life. The inter- 
est in an inspired peasant girl grew into 
the worship of a martyr, who centuries 
later was to be accepted as a saint. 

Those nobles who had been at war now 
came together, and agreed to accept 
Charles VH as their king. Then they 
drove the English to the coast, and out of 
France. 

In 1449, France, inspired by a maiden 

322 



who freely gave her strength and her hfe 
for her country, asking nothing for herself 
but the chance to serve, had thrown off 
foreign domination and was once more 
an independent nation. 




-ourlesy oj Raymond djf \\ hitcomb 

ORLEANS CATHEDRAL, THE CHOIR IS DISMISSED 

323 



THE PASSING OF FEUDALISM AND 
OF KNIGHTHOOD 

At the end of the Hundred Years War, 
that is by the middle of the fifteenth 
century, great changes were taking place 
in France. 

The knights, who had once made the 
armies of France so powerful, were fast 
losing their importance and were passing 
away. 

In the battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and 
Agincourt these nobles had been slain in 
thousands, on their chargers, by English 
peasants on foot. First the long bow, 
and then gun-powder, had come into use, 
making the lances worth little as weapons 
of war. 

The knights had held their proud 
positions for centuries because they could 
fight so well, and were so well protected 
by their armor. Now the peasants had 

324 



proved themselves their equals, and the 
knights were no longer masters in battle. 

After the end of the Hundred Years 
War, the feudal knights pass from his- 
tory. 

Story and romance tell of their chival- 
rous, noble deeds, but romance is, after 
all, only romance, not history. In reality 
most of these nobles were arrogant, 
greedy, cruel tyrants, and it was a happy 
time for France when their power came 
to a close. 

A new group now came into places of 
prominence in France. 

Before this time, only nobles had been 
thought fit to hold places of honor in the 
councils of the king. Now the kings were 
learning that the wisest, best men in the 
kingdom were among those who worked 
for their living. 

During these years of national recon- 
struction, from about 1400 to 1600, we 
find an increasing number of business 
men, bankers, traders, manufacturers, 
rising to places of power and distinction. 

325 



The king learned to depend on able 
men in whatever ranks he found them^ 
and chose men of humble birth if they 
suited his needs. 




Courtesy Raymond & Whitcomb 

THE TOWER PRISON OF JEANNE D'ARC 



826 



PAID ARMIES AND TAXES 

In feudal times the king could call upon 
his nobles for support in war. They in 
turn demanded service from the retainers 
who lived on their estates. These fight- 
ing men would gather, more or less as they 
pleased, and form an army. Leaders 
would then be chosen, and off they would 
go, without much drill or discipline, to 
fight till they got tired. 

The battles of Crecy and Poitiers and 
Agincourt showed how useless this plan 
was. 

''If I am to make successful war,'* said 
the king, "I must have an army ready 
to obey my commands. It must be 
drilled and disciplined by experienced 
generals." 

So, instead of a lot of soldiers who 
came and went almost as they pleased, 
the king gathered a regular army, which 

327 



would be at his service, and under his pay, 
at all times. This army was trained for 
war by skillful officers. 

Such an army cost great sums of money. 
Taxes had been raised by the king in a 
small way for a long time, but now he 
organized a definite plan of taxation 
which covered the whole kingdom. 

Instead of feudal services, the people 
were now called upon to pay taxes in 
money. 

Unfortunately these taxes were laid so 
that the burden fell upon the working 
classes. The nobles and the rich tried to 
lay the entire burden of taxation on those 
who could least afford to pay. 

In order to make people more willing 
to pay taxes, and to serve the crown in 
other ways, the kings during this period 
would call together, now and then, a con- 
gress of representatives from all classes 
of the population. 

These delegates represented the clergy, 
the nobles, and also the common people. 
Such a congress was called the Estates 

328 



General, because it had members from 
the clergy, or first estate, the nobles, or 
second estate, and the commoners, or 
third estate. 

The members of the third estate, after 
the Hundred Years War, had a great deal 
to say about unfair and oppressive taxa- 
tion, but they were not trained to act out 
their ideas, so talk was about all it 
amounted to for many years. 

The taxes of the working classes kept 
them desperately poor and bitterly angry. 
Century after century France moved on 
as a great nation, always with a poor and 
discontented working class. 



329 



FOREIGN CONQUEST 

ABOUT 1500 

After the Hundred Years War there 
were years of great disturbance in France. 
Change and confusion follow all great 
wars. 

Feudalism was passing away. Nobles, 
who saw their power and privileges slip- 
ping from their grasp, made desperate 
efforts to retain their position and control. 

For some years France was torn by 
anarchy and civil strife. Then gradually 
the central power of the king drew in one 
section after another, till he again stood 
supreme in a country well united and 
controlled. 

The king had now a new power that 
was to give his personal control greater 
strength than ever before. His stand- 
ing army could be used to enforce his 
decrees. 

330 



Dukes and Princes had no large forces 
now, and the time when they might rise 
against the crown had passed. 

With France at peace and prosperous, 
and with his army ready at his call, no 
king in these days was content to mind 
his own affairs. War and conquest be- 
came his chief ambition. 

It seemed as if every king looked 
about him and said: ^*Now let us see. 
What can I seize, and whom can I 
despoil?" 

For many years Italy offered the French 
kings a good field for conquest. Italy 
was broken into many fragments, the 
land was undefended, and the trained 
French army had, in 1499, ^^ easy task 
in forcing its way through to Naples. 

But this brought France little or noth- 
ing. Germany and England and Spain 
were jealous. They wanted their share 
of the plunder. When France found 
these enemies rising against her, she had 
to retreat empty handed. 

For many years French kings kept up 

331 



the effort to hold rich cities in Italy, but 
the campaigns brought little to their 
country except enormous taxes in money, 
and heavy losses of men. 




Courtesy Raymond (^ M luttoinb 

SPINNING IN BRITTANY 



332 



THE RENAISSANCE 

France gained little from her Italian 
campaigns in the way of lands, or gold, 
or political power, but she gained in 
another way, in treasures of the mind. 

From iioo to 1200 the Crusaders, 
going into new lands, brought back ideas. 
So now, in 1500, the French, returning 
from Italy, also came home with new 
ideas. 

In Italy, poets were writing exquisite 
verse, painters were creating wonderful 
pictures, and architects were building 
cathedrals and palaces in a new and 
beautiful style. 

In Italy, the arts were coming into 
new life and glory. The French, always 
quick to appreciate excellence in any 
form, were eager to adopt these new 
forms of art and literature, and to master 
them. 

333 



Francis I, then King of France, invited 
Italian artists and Italian writers to his 
court in Paris, and rewarded them gen- 
erously. He also rewarded Frenchmen 
who won distinction in art and learning. 

Under this inspiration a great change 
took place in France. Formerly the 
nobles had no interest in learning, but 
left all that to clerks and clergy. The 
common folk had no way of getting 
education, even if they wished to learn. 

The printing press now came into use, 
and, for the first time in history, books 
were printed for the use of all. 

The nobility now felt proud to have 
books, and were proud to read and write. 
The common people, for the first time, 
could also own books, and read the 
wonderful stories of the Greeks and 
Romans, which had been lost to all 
Europe for centuries. 

All over France a new life was thrilling 
the minds and quickening the thoughts 
of this intelligent, brilliant race. 

The age of the body, of dull, sordid 

334 



life, was passing. The age of the mind, 
of life beyond their narrow horizon, had 
begun 

This movement is called the re-birth, 
or in French, the renaissance. It was the 
re-birth of learning, after a long age of 
ignorance. 




NAPOLEON, AN AWKWARD NOVICE AT MILITARY SCHOOL 



335 



RELIGIOUS WARS IN FRANCE 

1550 TO 1600 

Since the days of Clovis and Charle- 
magne, the Church of Rome had con- 
trolled the religion and the education of 
the French people. 

In Germany Martin Luther had pro- 
tested against the customs of the Roman 
Church. He declared that all men should 
read religious books and should learn to 
discuss and understand for themselves 
matters of religion. 

In France, with the spread of books 
and learning, these ideas found thousands 
ready to adopt them. Such people were 
called Protestants, because they protested 
against the restraint of the Roman Church. 
They were in revolt against the old order 
of things, and contended that men were 
free to read, to discuss, and to decide for 
themselves matters of religion. 

336 



Protestants and Catholics could not 
agree, so they fought savagely, each to 
prove that his own faith was the better. 
These struggles developed rapidly about 
1550, and spread all over France. 

The Kings of France had always been 
Catholic, and supporters of the Roman 
Church. They did not approve of the 
heretics, the name then given to all 
who differed in belief from the Catholic 
Church. 

In those days, if the rulers disapproved 
of people, they persecuted them. So 
they persecuted the Protestants. Some 
were hanged, others were drowned, and 
still others were burned. 

Persecution, as it almost always does, 
increased the numbers and the faith of 
the Protestants. Before many years they 
became so numerous that persecution 
seemed useless. 

"If all these heretics are hanged," said 
the rulers, ''we shall have few people left." 

Ambitious nobles, seeking for power 
and wealth, now saw a chance to get 

337 



thousands of ProtCvStants to fight for 
them. 

''Here we are, good friends, true Pro- 
testants, ready to protect and lead you," 
they said to those of the common people, 
who had been so persecuted. 

Other nobles, honestly believing in 
the new faith, also joined the ranks of the 
Protestants. 

Made strong by these leaders, and 
burning for revenge, the Protestants 
struck back, and civil war began 




FRENCH CHILDREN AT SCHOOL 



338 



CATHERINE de MEDICI 

The outstanding name connected with 
these wars of religion in France is that 
of Catherine de Medici. She had come 
from the famous de Medici family, the 
rulers in Florence, to marry the French 
king, Henry II. 

The king died, leaving young sons. The 
queen mother, Catherine, was made 
regent, and for many years governed 
France. 

The plan of this clever queen was to 
play off one party against the other. She 
feared the Catholic nobles, lest they grow 
too strong, and at first gave protection 
to the Protestants, to win their support. 

For a while this policy worked to her 
advantage, but the bitterness of both 
parties rose far beyond her control, and 
throughout France was war, murder, and 
devastation. 

339 



At last Catherine de Medici decided 
that a bold stroke must be made to win 
security for herself and her sons. She 
joined closely with the Catholics, and 
planned the murder of every Protestant 
she could reach. 

The plot was laid, and in the evening 
of a summer day, Saint Bartholomew's 
day, in 1572, the signal was given for the 
attack. 

The massacre began in Paris, where 
hundreds of Protestant leaders had come 
to celebrate the wedding of the king's 
sister. All night, and through the day 
following, the streets were filled with the 
shouts of the mob. "Kill all. Kill all!" 

Thousands of the best sons and daugh- 
ters of France perished through that 
bloody plot. 

'There," said Catherine de Medici, 
when she saw the results of her cruel 
massacre, ''now we shall hear no more of 
the Protestants." 

But Catherine was wrong. Even this 
terrible persecution had only made the 

340 



Protestants more bitter and more re- 
vengeful than before. 

Soon the two parties were again at war. 
Eighteen years later, people of Paris, who 
had killed so many Protestants on Saint 
Bartholomew's day, saw at their gates 
a great Protestant army; saw their food 
vanish; ate dogs and cats and rats; saw 
their children die by thousands; and paid 
an awful penalty for their cruel murders. 

At last in 1594 a strong, wise king, 
Henry IV, came to the throne. He had 
been a Protestant, but turned Catholic, 
to secure peace for France. 

Henry lY knew and understood the 
Protestants. He also could understand 
the Catholic point of view. Under him 
a treaty was made which expressed new 
ideas, never known before in European 
history. 

Both Catholics and Protestants were 
to have the right to worship and teach 
their doctrines. 

In England the Protestants, being in 
power, had persecuted the Catholics. In 

341 



Spain and Italy the Catholics persecuted 
the Protestants. In Germany, where 
the two parties were more nearly equal, 
the issue took the shape of a great war 
which lasted thirty years. 

France now showed her great advance 
in culture and toleration by giving to 
both parties a right to live in peace. 
France seemed to agree with Henry IV 
when he said: 

'1 believe that both doctrines have 
much good in them." 




NAPOLEON A CAPTIVE 
After years of glory he goes to die a prisoner on a desert isle. 



342 



REBUILDING FRANCE 

HENRY IV— 1600 

France had been torn with war more 
than thirty years, when Henry IV became 
king. A milhon people had been killed; 
the land was nearl}^ as desolate as after 
the Flundred Years War. The people 
were poor and despondent. 

Fortunate France. Henry IV was en- 
titled to the throne by birth, but he 
secured the kingdom because he was the 
man best qualified to rule the people. 
The nation greatly needed a strong, fair- 
minded leader, and she found in Henry IV 
the most capable of all the kings who had 
ruled France. 

Henry IV found himself surrounded by 
greedy nobles who had hoped to be inde- 
pendent princes, like those of Feudal 
times. 

Some of these he turned into friends by 

343 



favors and gifts of money. Others he 
punished. Before long he had subdued 
them all, and made his own power su- 
preme. 

The working people w^ere groaning under 
terrible taxes. The nobles and the clerics 
had claimed freedom from taxes. The 
merchants and the poor were paying 
practically all. 

Henry IV surrounded himself with able, 
earnest ministers. ''We must give our 
people a chance to live and be prosperous,'* 
he declared. So the lords were forced to 
pay a share of the expenses of the State. 

Taxes in that day were farmed out, as 
in the Roman days. The king would 
need, let us say, fifty million francs. A 
noble would be appointed head of a tax 
district, and would be made responsible 
for raising fifty million francs. 

This noble would select deputies, and 
would sometimes compel each one to 
bring him so much money that he would 
have in all a hundred million francs, half 
for himself and half for the king. 

344 



But these deputies did not work for 
nothing. If they collected a franc for 
the lord treasurer, they also collected 
something for themselves. Thus, to get 
fifty million francs for the national treas- 
ury, three or four times that amount was 
taken from the people. 

In spite of jealous lords and deputies, 
Henry IV was able to change this method. 
He arranged the taxes so that, while the 
people paid much less than before, the 
national treasury secured far more. 

Encouraged by this relief, the workers 
labored with greater zeal. Agriculture 
flourished, manufactures increased, com- 
merce developed, and France rapidly 
became more prosperous, more unified, 
more happy than ever before in her 
history. 

Henry IV called a meeting of the 
Estates General to discuss national 
matters. A deal of talking was done, 
and many opinions were offered, but no 
agreement could be reached. 

The ideas of the Third Estate were the 

345 



most valuable, but they had no way to 
secure consideration for their propositions. 
The Estates were finally dismissed, leav- 
ing complete authority with the King. 

Henry IV proved equal to the task. 
He made France prosperous, rich, united, 
and was just about to undertake a cam- 
paign against Austria, to assure France 
of safety and strength in that quarter, 
when, in 1610, he was assassinated. 

Thus ended the reign of a remarkable 
king, who had given his days to the up- 
building of his kingdom, and the prosperity 
of his people. 




AFTER A LONG DAY IN THE OLIVE GROVES 



346 



FRANCE SHOWS HER POWER 



CARDINAL RICHELIEU 

Louis XIII, the son of Henry IV, was a 
sickly boy when he became king, and was 
always a weak, moody, fickle ruler. His 
one wise policy was to place in power and 
to keep in power a man w^ho proved one 
of the greatest ministers in history. 
Cardinal Richelieu. 

When, in 1624, Cardinal Richelieu be- 
came a prime minister, he found much to 
be done. 

The Protestants, called Huguenots in 
France, had carried their organization so 
far that they were no longer a simple 
religious body, organized for worship in 
the Protestant faith. They were trying 
to set up a state of their own, independent 
of the king. 

''If they succeed in doing that," your 

347 



Majesty," said Richelieu to Louis XIII, 
'Trance will be broken in two." 

The danger could not be overlooked, so 
Richelieu demanded full obedience to the 
King. When the Protestants refused, he 
attacked them, and cruvshed their cities 
beyond any hope of defying the king 
again. 

But no religious rights were at that time 
taken away. The Protestants were left 
with freedom to worship as they wished. 

Apart from the Protestants there were 
many nobles in France ready to' dispute 
the royal authority. 

Surrounded by opponents who hated 
him, and planned for his destruction, 
Richelieu overcame one group after 
another, until even the courts of law dared 
not give a verdict in important cases till 
the king consented. 

Richelieu made the power of Louis 
XIII so absolute in France that he could 
destroy the proudest lord, or raise up the 
humblest peasant. 

He drilled a great army, built a strong 

348 



navy, and laid taxes on the people till 
they groaned beneath their weight. 

''Your majesty, we have enemies abroad 
who plot against us. France is strong and 
united. We must defeat the foreign 
powers.** 

So French spies filled every court, 
French gold bribed nobles and political 
parties in Spain, Germany, Italy, and 
England, to revolt and weaken their 
countries. 

At last the French army took the field, 
and France forced her neighbors to recog- 
nize her power, and surrender much. 

At this time Louis seized from the 
German Empire the provinces of Alsace 
and Lorraine. 

When Richelieu died, in 1644, after 
twenty years at the head of France, he 
had made King Louis XIII a complete 
despot, had unified the energies and 
resources of his country, and had rnade 
France a leader in the policies of Europe. 



349 



THE GILDED CENTURY 



LOUIS XIV 

1643 TO 1715 

Louis XIV became king at the age of 
five, upon the death of his father, Louis 
XIII. The queen, his mother, was ap- 
pointed regent, to rule until he grew up. 
Upon this , many turbulent nobles at once 
stirred up old quarrels, hoping to weaken 
the crown, and win some profits for them- 
selves. The trickery and greed displayed 
by some of those highest in the state 
was sad to see. 

It was common in those days for a 
noble to start a rebellion and then agree 
to submit, for a large sum of money, 
which was often paid. 

Cardinal Mazarin, trained by Richelieu , 
was made prime minister till the king 
became of age. He was a strong leader, 

350 



and soon ended the civil wars stirred up 
by selfish nobles. 

Mazarin then continued the French 
policy handed down by past kings. France 
must grow great and strong. Other 
nations must be made small and weak. 

In this policy he had success. France 
was strong, unified, and provided with a 
large army. Step by step a city was taken 
here, or a province was captured there. 

Cardinal Mazarin died when Louis 
XIV was a young man. ''Hereafter," 
said Louis, *'I shall have no minister. I 
shall myself be ruler. Bring all matters 
directly to me." 

Thereafter Louis XIV did just as he 
said he would. He was an able man, for 
his day, and so conceited in his pride that 
he was ready to dictate all things to all 
men. 

Politics, commerce, art, letters, social 
customs, were all directed by the opinions 
of this despotic monarch. No other king 
in Europe ever had the power wielded by 
Louis XIV. 

351 



In France his will was supreme. Courts 
of justice decided all questions, not by 
right or wrong, but as the king or his 
favorites wished. Hardly a bird dared 
lay an egg without special permission 
from the crown. 

People who offended the king or his 
favorites disappeared suddenly, never to 
be seen again. Few were bold enough 
even to whisper a single word against his 
majesty. 

In other countries Louis wished to have 
the controlling influence. He longed to 
rule Europe as a vast French Empire. 

It happened that at this time England, 
Holland, Austria, and Spain were weak 
and disunited. France, with her great 
generals, and splendid armies, could win 
victories everywhere. 

Louis determined to use his opportuni- 
ties. He fought four important wars, all 
to win greatness for France. The last 
of these, the War of the Spanish Suc- 
cession, was to place his descendants on 
the throne of Spain. 

352 



So great was the power of Louis XIV, 
at one period, that he almost made good 
his ambition. Even cities in Italy, which 
refused to do as he said, were bombarded 
and treated with barbarous severity. 

He bribed King Charles II of England 
to support France. He attacked Hol- 
land, which had been for years a good 
friend to France. He separated Austria 
and Spain, with battles and bribes and 
trickery. 

Steadily France grew greater, at the 
expense of others. 

Had one asked the French then, "Whom 
are you serving?" They must have 
replied, 'We serve no one. All the world 
must serve us.'* 

Historians, poets, romancers, call this 
the golden age of France, but it was not 
golden, it was only gilded. 

At court, nobles, lovely women, famous 
artists, rich tradesmen gathered in a gay 
glittering group. 

Over France was spread a multitude of 
people, nearly starving to pay the enor- 

353 



mous costs of the great army and the 
brilhant court. Taxes once more were 
farmed out, and hundreds of grasping 
officials fattened on the hungry people. 

At court, the ambassadors of all the 
world, in their richest dress, flattered the 
vain monarch, and sent to their govern- 
ments suggestions for his destruction. 

In France, Louis was teaching his people 
to hate kings. Abroad, he was raising a 
host of bitter enemies against his country. 




LOUIS XIV IN THE FOREST 
When the king spoke with a member of the court, all others stood 

apart. 



354 



GLORY FADES 

Louis XIV, with all his ambition, failed 
to see vast opportunities to make France 
truly great. 

In America, the French explorers had 
won Canada, and, with help from home, 
might have won also the great west. But, 
in his eagerness to get lands in Europe, 
Louis neglected the opportunity for em- 
pire in America. 

Louis had thousands of Protestants in 
his realm. They were skilled, industrious, 
able, of the middle class on whom the 
nation depended for its strength and 
wealth. 

But Louis XIV was a Catholic, and 
these people did not worship as he wished 
all his people to worship, 

"Am I not lord over all my people?" 
said Louis. ''Let them worship as I 
direct. I say it for their own good." 

355 



The Protestants still preferred their 
own faith. Then Louis sent soldiers to 
force obedience. Hundreds were killed in 
cold blood. Their rights and privileges 
were taken away. 

In desperation, thousands of Protestant 
Huguenots packed up their goods and 
escaped from France. Some went to 
Holland, some to England, some to 
Germany, and many to America. 

These Protestants had been among the 
most useful citizens of France. By this 
persecution Louis greatly weakened a 
land already sadly crippled by war and 
famine. 

When Louis XIV died, in 1715, after a 
reign of seventy two years, he left a 
country weak from war. He left a people 
on the verge of ruin, with enormous debts 
and intolerable taxes. He left a group of 
nations about his country who had learned 
to look upon France as a devouring giant, 
ready to swallow all in its path 



356 



DANGEROUS YEARS 

LOUIS XV, 1715 TO 1774 

Louis XIV had reigned seventy two 
years. He left the nation deep in debt. 
His great-grandson, Louis XV, was to 
reign fifty nine years, and to leave the 
nation still deeper in debt. 

Debt, loans, taxes, poverty. Money, 
money, money, and the dire want of 
money. These had become the themes 
of France. 

After 1700 in France we see the splendid 
pomp and luxury of the court, and the 
idle nobility, in sharp contrast with 
terrible misery and want among working 
people. 

Children had so little food that many 
died, and those who grew up were 
prematurely old. 

One plan after another had been tried 

357 



to raise taxes and keep up payments due 
on the enormous national debt, but no 
measures could squeeze more money from 
the famished people. 




DOLL'S BATH 
Children of the French mountain region. 



358 



THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE 

In 17 i6 a Scotchman, John Law, 
appeared in Paris. He was a trained 
banker, a student of finance. He urged 
the authorities to let him try a new plan. 

"If you will let me handle your money," 
he declared, ''I can make France the rich- 
est nation in the world. We must give 
more credit and issue more money, so 
that people can trade freely." 

Matters could not be worse, so they 
tried Law's plan. He was skillful, and 
soon won confidence for the bank he 
started, and its paper money. 

This done, he formed a vast company to 
trade in America. It was called the 
Mississippi Company, and was to have 
sole rights of trade all throughout the 
region of the Missippi Valley. 

The Mississippi Company secured from 
the Crown monopolies in selling tobacco, 

359 



and in trade between French America and 
Europe. 

Rumors and wild tales spread through 
France about the gold and silver, the 
precious stones and rich furs, that filled 
the region of the Mississippi. 

Stock in Law's company rose rapidly. 
The price doubled and doubled again as 
new buyers hastened to invest. 

Then Law paid a dividend from money 
he received for shares. The Company 
had earned no such dividend, but he had 
plenty of cash from the sale of stock. 

When news of this spread, the people 
came to Paris in crowds to buy stock. 
From London, from Vienna, from Holland 
and Italy, those who longed for sudden 
wealth rushed to Paris. 

It seemed as if France might become, 
as Law had promised, the richest nation 
on earth. 

But the gold and silver and precious 
stones did not return in shiploads from 
the Mississippi region. 

The investment was earning nothing. 

360 



The great Company could not pay its 
debts, and after two years was obliged 
to close its doors. 

This undertaking was called the Mis- 
sissippi bubble. When it burst, thou- 
sands were ruined. John Law himself 
lost everything. With all his shrewdness, 
he found there were some things he did not 
understand. 




THE PETIT TRIANON 

A Rustic cottage where Marie Antoinette and her court ladies lived as 

dairy-maids. 



361 



COLONIES ARE LOST 

In America, in Egypt, and in India new 
lands of vast wealth were opened during 
these years when Louis XV ruled. Eng- 
land had now come to be the great rival 
of France for control in these colonies. 

Gifted by nature with all the qualities 
that make bold, persistent explorers, 
the French people had spread into all 
these lands. In America she now held 
Canada and the valley of the Mississippi, 
with a portion of the gulf of Mexico. 

In 1740 war broke out between France 
and England. France had her mind so 
much on conquest in Europe that she made 
little effort to protect the territories her 
pioneers had won. India and Egypt 
fell into English hands. In America, 
through these wars, she lost everything 
except the territory along the Mississippi. 

To gain a trifle in Europe, France lost 

362 



colonial possessions which she thought 
then of little value. By securing India 
and America, England soon made herself 
the most powerful empire in the world. 

Historians have called Louis XV the 
most contemptible king in the history of 
France. Few French kings led lives of 
personal purity, but that of Louis XV 
was of the lowest standard. 

He surrounded himself with evil women, 
who practically controlled national affairs. 
Millions in money, that should have gone 
to pay the public debt, went into the 
pockets of these creatures. 

So France went on, from bad to worse, 
till in 1774, just as the American Revolu- 
tion was beginning, Louis XV died. His 
death was received as a public blessing 
by the people of France. 

The American Revolution roused great 
interest in France. There the common 
people thrilled with the thought of a 
republic, and the ending of evil courts and 
rapacious nobles. 

Benjamin Franklin came to France as 

363 



envoy of the new Republic, and won all 
hearts. "Let us help these honest folks 
who fight for Hberty," they cried. 

France did help. She loaned Franklin 
great sums of money. She sent General 
LaFayette and other officers, with troops 
and ships, and took a large part in the 
victory that came to America in the end. 




SHADE FOR THE ROAD. SUNLIGHT FOR THE FIELDS 

364 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

1789 

The French people had now endured 
more than most people could stand. By 
nature they loved their kings, and admired 
the glories of a splendid court; but a 
monarch like Louis XV had made clear 
to thousands the terrible dangers of 
despotism. 

As Solon said, in ancient Greece. 
"Despotism is a fine idea, but there is no 
way out." 

Although slavery and serfdom had, in 
theory, passed out of French life long 
before this, the condition of the working 
classes was as bad as slavery. Nobles 
could, and did force starving servants to 
work on their estates without pay. They 
could and did flog them, wound them, 
and even beat them to death, with no 
fear of punishment for such deeds. 

365 



Law, taxes, labor, were for the poor 
only; the nobles could do as they pleased. 
There were not many nobles in France who 
were not followed by looks of hatred, and 
threats of deadly revenge. 

Louis XVI was a king of good inten- 
tions, but of feeble mind. After trying 
in vain several schemes for improvement, 
he consented in 1789 to call a session of 
the Estates General. 

The Third Estate, for the first time in 
its history, was led by able men. Against 
all opposition the Third Estate forced the 
king and nobles to make sweeping reforms. 

The king at first consented. Then he 
listened to the nobles and tried to change 
back again. At this the people were 
aroused. Hundreds of nobles were put 
into prison. Hundreds more fled to 
Germany and England. 

Then Louis XVI himself tried to fly 
from France. He was captured, and, 
with his entire family, was placed in the 
Temple prison. 

Now the escaped nobles raised armies 

366 



and marched to attack the people's party 
in France, and restore the king to his 
throne. 

When they saw that Paris might be 
taken, the people went mad with fear and 
rage. 

Should they lose all they had suffered 
for so long, and be thrust back into their 
old miseries? 

Howling mobs surrounded the prisons 
where the nobles were kept, and most of 
them were murdered. Later the king 
was tried and sent with his queen, Marie 
Antoinette, to the guillotine. 

Thus begun, the work of execution went 
on day after day. All who might be 
suspected of a thought against the revolu- 
tion were in danger of death. 

Frightened at the horrors in France, 
several states of Europe joined in an effort 
to overcome this reckless people, and 
restore the rule of kings. 

But the French rose in a wonderful 
effort for the defense of their country. 
New forms of government were organized. 

367 



New armies were raised, and the French 
were finally successful in all directions. 

Land all about their borders was taken 
by their armies. First they plundered 
these districts, and then turned them into 
little republics on the French model. 

But the French people had learned little 
about government and self control. They 
quarrelled in their council meetings. They 
tried first one committee and then 
another. 

All their schemes resulted in worse 
confusion. France was drifting rapidly 
into utter bankruptcy, into complete 
ruin. 

It was clear that if the new France 
should face its enemies and live, some 
strong, central control must take com- 
mand. 



368 



NAPOLEON 

Fortune brought to France the man 
she needed at the moment of despair. 

A young general had made himself a 
popular idol by his wonderful campaigns. 
This general was ambitious. He knew 
his power with the people. 

"Now is my time," he said. '^By a 
bold stroke I can become leader of my 
country." The man was Napoleon Bona- 
parte. He made the bold stroke, and 
became the leader in France. 

Never was a leader more popular. 
Never did a leader deserve popularity 
more than Napoleon. 

At first he acted as first consul, after 
the old Roman plan, but soon his power 
became so great that he took the place 
and title of emperor. 

During a period of peace, just after 

369 



I§oo, Napoleon made France into a new 
nation. He restored prosperity, and laid 
just taxes. He remembered the poor and 
aided them. He organized schools and 
colleges. He took the Catholic Church, 
which had been nearly destroyed during 
the revolution, under his protection. 
Other creeds were also protected. 

Meanwhile Napoleon planned to make 
himself master of Europe. Again war 
broke out. With an army of veterans 
devoted to their leader. Napoleon marched 
into Austria, into Germany, into Italy, 
into Spain. 

Victory after victory came to his armies. 
Everywhere he looted the cities, sent back 
vast loads of treasure to Paris, and then 
organized many conquered lands as French 
dependencies. 

His brothers and sisters were made 
rulers in Italy, Spain, and parts of 
Germany. 

Intoxicated with power, Napoleon paid 
no attention at all to rules of right or 
wrong. He wished to rule Europe, and 

370 



stamped with an iron heel on all who stood 
in his path. 

His former devotion to democracy and 
the people disappeared, he became as 
despotic and greedy for power as any 
king had ever been. 

At last he gained such power that Eng- 
land alone remained outside of his control. 
The English navy saved her from invasion. 
Napoleon did indeed rule Europe. But 
it was the rule of the sword. He was 
not serving Europe; he made Europe 
serve him. Hatred grew. Enemies sprang 
up. All these people waited their chance 
to strike back. 

This chance came speedily. 

Russia declined to stop all trade with 
England, as Napoleon demanded, and he 
decided to make an object lesson of Russia 
for such disobedience. With the greatest 
army ever assembled in modern Europe, 
he marched into Russia, in the autumn 
of 1812. 

As he advanced, the Russians retreated. 
He took Moscow, but the Czar did not 

371 



ask for peace. Napoleon waited several 
weeks. Moscow was burned by the 
Russians. Cold weather was coming. 
He knew he must retreat. 

Winter caught the army. Thousands 
died on the road, and only a few 
struggled back to France. 

At this all Europe rose in revolt against 
the ambitions emperor. He made a vain 
effort to conquer again, but his valiant 
fighters were now gone. He, like Louis 
XIV, had ruined France with victorious 
wars. 

Hurled back on every side, the French 
soon surrendered. Napoleon, in 1814-, 
was exiled by the allies to the little island 
of Elba, where he was allowed to rule as 
king. 

Louis XVI had been guillotined, and 
his little son, Louis XVII had died in 
prison. A brother of Louis XVI was 
now made king, as Louis XVI 1 1. 

But Louis XVIII was a mean figure 
after the great Napoleon, and within a 
year the people began to long for another 

372 



change. They did not object to a king, 
but they hated the old ideas of favorites 
and privilege, which again controlled the 
policies of the court. 

In April, 1815, Napoleon escaped from 
Elba. He landed in France. He showed 
himself to the soldiers, who shouted with 
joy. As he approached Paris, thousands 
joined his standard. The King, Louis 
XVni, fled before him and Napoleon 
was once more master of France. 

But England, Prussia, and Russia 
moved fast. At once armies were march- 
ing towards Paris. With his old skill. 
Napoleon attacked and strove to destroy 
the foe. 

All his brilliant cunning came to naught, 
for Napoleon no longer had men of youth 
and vigor. His armies were weak. In 
the historic battle of Waterloo, in 181 5, 
he was defeated and crushed. 

Napoleon was now sent far away to St. 
Helena, a rocky island off the coast of 
Africa, and there he died six years later, 
in 1821, 

373 



CONFUSION 

The great empire of Napoleon was now 
broken apart, and France was restricted 
to the boundaries of 1790. But the con- 
quest of Napoleon had continuing results 
in Europe. 

The old kingdoms that he broke up, 
the old lines of kings and princes that 
he dethroned, never could return to 
their former condition. New ideas, and 
new conditions made progress for 
democracy easier and more rapid through- 
out Europe. 

Although the monarchy was restored, 
France was full of revolution, and the 
plan worked badly. Fortunately for 
Louis XVIII, he died soon. His successor, 
Charles X, had less success than Louis 
XVIII, and he was driven out in 
1830. 

374 



Then a third ruler, Louis PhiUppe, was 
chosen. Louis PhiUppe helped to form 
a new constitution, and ruled in a more 
democratic way. He hung on for eighteen 
years, till 1848, when a new revolution 
overthrew the monarchy. 

''Now let us try a republic again," said 
the people. They were learning very, 
very slowly, after centuries of political 
slavery, the art of self-government. 

So they made their constitution over 
again, and decided to have a president. 
Louis Napoleon, a nephew of the great 
Napoleon, was chosen for the first presi- 
dent. 

Louis Napoleon was a schemer. He 
was just as full of pride and ambition as 
his uncle, but, instead of being a great 
genius, he was a man of little talent for 
doing anything well. 

In 1852 he took advantage of the 
confusion in France, and got himself 
elected Emperor of the French. The 
people were prosperous, however, and 
preferred his rule to the former confusion, 

375 



so they worked hard, rebuilt their cities, 
improved agricuhure, built railroads, and 
made France into an active, progressive, 
modern nation. 

His success in the war with Austria in 
1859, when he helped Italy, and took 
Savoy for France, led Louis Napoleon to 
land an army in Mexico, hoping to place 
Maximilian of Austria on the Mexican 
throne, and then dominate the policies 
of Mexico to suit himself. 

The United States was in the midst of 
the Civil War, in 1862, when the French 
landed, and could do nothing but protest. 
Louis Napoleon paid little attention to 
this protest then, but when, in 1865, the 
United States, with a powerful army 
ready for action, told France that her 
troops must be withdrawn at once, the 
outlook was very different. 

The French were attacked by Mexican 
troops, before they could safely withdraw, 
and were defeated. Maximilian, as a 
penalty for having murdered Mexican 
citizens, was put to death, and the expedi- 

376 



tion proved a humiliation for Louis 
Napoleon. 

Instead of vast wealth, that he expected 
to bring back from Mexico, a sickly 
discontented army returned, to stir up 
trouble in France. 




MARIE ANTOINETTE RIDING TO HER EXECUTION 

377 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

1870 

As years passed the emperor developed 
self-seeking qualities which brought him 
more and more into disfavor with the 
people of France. It became evident that 
the national policies were being shaped, 
not for the welfare of France, but for 
the personal advantage of Louis Napoleon. 

Louis decided that it was desirable, in 
order to divert the minds of Frenchmen 
from criticism of their own government, to 
start a foreign war, and in this way 
strengthen national patriotism. 

Prussia had been making trouble for 
France, and Louis Napoleon decided to 
make war on Prussia. 

In Prussia was a great statesman. Bis- 
mark, the prime minister. After the 
wars of Napoleon the Great, he had 
helped to make Prussia into a strong,. 

378 



central state, under a despotic rule. His 
armies were drilled to perfection. He 
knew that France was unprepared for 
war, so he did all he could to get Louis 
Napoleon to declare war. 

Prussia had never forgotten the attacks 
of Louis XIV, and of Napoleon the Great. 
When war began, the Germans rushed into 
France, and, almost before they knew 
what had happened, the French field 
armies were captured, along with the 
emperor. 

Thus ended the second empire. Prussia 
demanded an enormous sum of money, 
and the district of Alsace-Lorraine. 

With bitter hearts the French paid the 
money and gave up the land. 

A new republic, then formed, was laid 
on wiser plans and firmer foundations 
than those that had gone before. The 
people had learned that perfection could 
not be expected, and that they must 
bear much, and struggle hard, even under 
a republic. After two generations, that 
republic still endures. 

379 



THE WORLD WAR 

1914 TO 1918 

On her eastern borders France had 
two rivals. One was Austria, with which 
she had fought for generations. The 
other was Prussia. Prussia, rising from 
the many Httle states broken down by 
Napoleon, had constructed the autocratic 
empire now called Germany. 

Germany had a far greater population 
than France. Germany had a great army, 
every man subject to the direct command 
of the Kaiser. Germany had an ambition 
to rule that was as great and unrestrained 
as that of Napoleon, or Louis XIV. 

As the years rolled on, it became more 
and more clear that Germany intended 
to use her splendid army to increase her 
power and possessions. Those in France 
who understood the true situation trem- 

380 



bled in their shoes. France made her 
army as strong as she could. 

Treaties were negotiated with England 
and with Russia, to join the resources of 
the three countries into united defense 
against the threatening foe. 

In June, 19 14, Austria made insulting 
and impossible demands on Servia, a 
state which Russia was under obligations 
to protect. This issue could have been 
adjusted if Germany had been willing. 
It became evident, however, that Ger- 
many, which had for months been making 
preparations, was now determined to 
bring about war. 

By July her armies were marching 
through Belgium, whose neutrality Ger- 
many had sworn to protect, into France. 
England and Russia came promptly to 
the support of Belgium and France. 

The campaigns that followed con- 
tinued for four years. Belgium had been 
impoverished by the German occupation, 
and its resources had been appropriated. 
The northeastern provinces of France 

381 



were devastated, not only by the destruc- 
tion which is unavoidable in active 
campaigns, but by deliberate destruction 
on the part of the German armies of 
occupation. 

In April, 19 17, the United States, 
indignant with the absolute disregard 
that Germany had shown for international 
law and for the principles of humanity; 
indignant also with the use that Germany 
had made of the submarine, for the 
sinking of merchant vessels, and for the 
murder of their crews and passengers, 
declared war against Germany. 

At the time when America's army was 
in readiness, the defensive lines of France 
had been nearly overcome. The forces 
of the French and of the English armies 
were exhausted from their long struggles. 

The arrival in France of the first million 
of the American troops brought, not only 
fresh fighting force, but the encourage- 
ment and the hope that were so much 
needed by French and English alike, to 
enable them to continue the struggle. 

382 



The help that had been given by France 
to America in its hour of need in 1777 was 
now being returned to the great RepubHc 
of Europe. The privilege came to Amer- 
ica of being the decisive factor in the war, 
but had it not been for the struggle main- 
tained during three years by the armies of 
France and England, there would have 
been no war for Americans to come into. 

The German Kaiser had been quite 
outspoken: "When I have gotten through 
with Europe," he said to the American 
Ambassador retiring from Berlin, ''I shall 
square accounts with America. Ger- 
many can no longer put up with the Amer- 
ican iuvSolence which forbids German 
colonies in the Western Hemisphere." 

In August, 191 8, the German armies 
were finally overcome, and the German 
commanders sued for peace. The Ger- 
man Kaiser, fearing the wrath of his 
people, fled into exile. 

But France still trembled. She drilled 
her army. She still made preparations 
to defend herself. 

383 



''Germany is beaten today. Who knows 
when she may attack us again?" said 
France. 

President Wilson, of the United States, 
joined by leaders of other countries, 
worked hard to form a League of Nations, 
that should agree to stop all wars among 
themselves, and protect nations when 
they were attacked. 

Practically all the nations engaged in 
the great war, among the winning allies, 
and many other nations, joined in this 
league. The Congress of the United 
States, however, refused to support Presi- 
dent Wilson in the initiative that he had 
taken, and declined to accept membership 
for the United States. 

Since 191 8 the league has continued its 
work, and, while not yet accomplishing all 
that had been hoped from it, or all that 
would have been possible if* the United 
States, the greatest and strongest nation in 
the world, had joined, it has helped to ad- 
just a number of grievances, which under 
other conditions would have meant war. 

384 



There is still hope that some organiza- 
tion may bring together, and may keep 
together, in a Family of Nations, all the 
civilized states of the world. 

France was still afraid. She asked that 
England and America join in a promise to 
protect her if she were ever attacked 
again. This they undoubtedly will do, 
but all agreements, all leagues, will fail 
unless a new spirit shall grow in France 
and other European countries. 

France lives in mortal dread of her 
German neighbors, just as they lived 
in mortal dread of France a hundred 
years ago. The French feel that only a 
weak, crippled neighbor will be a safe 
neighbor. 

That is what Sparta thought. That is 
what the Italian cities thought. That is 
what Germany was trained to think. But 
that idea has never yet borne happy off- 
spring to any nation. 

The fact that Germany is now a 
republic, is greatly in favor of lasting 
peace. When the national policy is con- 

385 



trolled by those who pay the taxes, the 
risk of war is much reduced. 

As yet no way has been found to acsure 
France of safety except through a great 
army. But so long as France maintains 
a great army, the rest of Europe will view 
her with suspicion, and she will be held 
back from the quiet and comfort she 
greatly desires. 

These years will be critical for France. 
She has resumed her place as the leading 
nation of Europe. With her colonies, 
in Africa and Indo China, every need for 
a great national development is gratified. 

History would say to France today: 
"Your future fate will be decided by the 
service you can render. If you can win 
the friendship and esteem of your fellow 
nations, by deeds of generous helpfulness 
and service^ fear not. They will not let 
you fall. They will help you in the 
future as they have in the past, and yours 
shall be the reward of happiness, of peace, 
of greatness among the nations of the 
earth." 

386 



GERMANY 

THE EARLY PEOPLE 

The people who founded Germany 
came originally from the plateaus of Asia, 
and gradually pushed farther and farther 
west. 

The Celts and Saxons, who went into 
England; and the Franks, who settled in 
France, belonged to the Germanic group. 

In the deep forests and valleys, that 
lay behind the Alps and beyond the 
Rhine, thousands of these rough, stalwart 
people had made their homes during the 
years when the Roman republic was rising 
to power. 

The German tribes, called Goths, came 
into close contact with the Romans. 
After the days of Caesar they were taken 
by thousands into the Roman legions, 
for they were powerful fighters. 

387 



The home Hf e of these people was simple 
and rude. They lived on meat and coarse 
bread, having few delicacies or luxuries. 
But they were affectionate and faithful 
in family relations, and loyal to their 
tribes. 

The German tribes were led by chiefs 
who gained power to rule through their 
ability and strength. All warriors could 
express opinions and help choose or 
dethrone their kings. 

As time went on the Goths became 
better and better acquainted with the 
Roman ways. They were intelligent and 
ready. They were also proud and revenge- 
ful. The Romans too often treated them 
with scorn, and robbed them of their 
property, in the provinces of South 
Germany where Roman arms had con- 
quered. 

Arminius was a leader among the 

German peoples. He had served as a 

• young man in the Roman Armies. He 

was a student, and became skilled in 

government and military science. 

388 



Arminius was promoted to high rank in 
the Roman army, but he determined to 
free his people from the despotism and 
cruelty of the Roman rulers. As an 
officer he could make plans with other 
German soldiers in the Roman ranks, 
and arrange for a revolution. 

At last they were ready. Varus, the 
Roman Commander, who was sent by the 
Emperor Augustus, in 9 A. Do, to put 
down a revolt, was attacked in the deep 
forests. 

For three days the Romans fought 
bravely, but in vain. Arminius had small 
armies all about on every side, and Varus 
was defeated. Hardly a Roman was able 
to escape, and Varus himself was slain. 

The blow, thus given by this brilliant, 
patriotic young German, was so severe 
that Rome gave up the attempt to subdue 
the Germans in their native forests and 
valleys, north of the Danube and east 
of the Rhine. 



389 



THE GERMANS GROW IN POWER 

During four hundred years after the 
defeat of Varus, the German tribes lived 
their rude, simple lives in the wild lands 
north of the Roman Empire. 

According to Roman historians they 
spent most of their time fighting each 
other for supremacy, which is probably 
true. 

During this period, however, thousands 
of these people learned Roman ways, and 
visited in Roman cities, while thousands 
more served in the Roman armies. 

Rough as they were, the German 
peoples were intelligent and quick to 
learn. They saw the weakness of the 
Romans, and planned to take advantage 
of it. 

About 4-00 A. D. the Goths felt the 
pressure of another race from Asia, the 

390 



Huns. These Huns were moving west- 
ward into the German lands. They 
moved in vast squadrons on horseback, 
and fought even more fiercely than the 
Germans themselves. 

So the Goths, under Alaric, pushed 
down into Greece. After plundering there 
with excellent profits, they went over 
into Italy. The Roman armies were 
now too weak to withstand his forces, so 
Alaric swept straight on to Rome, and 
in 410 captured that city. 

The East Goths, and the West Goths, 
all German tribes, now planned to divide 
the lands of the Roman empire in the 
west, and to make this their home. 

About this time, however, their dreaded 
foe appeared. The Huns, wild, fierce^ and 
restless, led by Attila, a relentless, merci- 
less raider, swept down into the Roman 
Empire. 

It seemed as if no one could withstand 
the fearful Huns, who left blood and ruin 
in their track. 

At last the Goths and Franks, with 

391 



other German tribes, gathered in a vast 
army, and at Chalons, in Gaul, they 
defeated Attila, and -drove the Huns out 
of western Europe. 




THE BLACK FOREST REGION 
Here the German tribes wandered for centuries secure from the Roman 

legions. 



392 



EARLY GERMAN RULERS 

After the retreat of the Huns the 
Goths continued to extend their power in 
southern Europe. 

Theodoric, a Goth, or German, as we 
shall call him hereafter, made himself 
master of the Italian peninsula. He 
overcame Adoacer and every other rival 
in the field. 

For fifty years, A-7(> to 526, Theodoric 
controlled affairs in Italy. 

The Germans point with pride to this 
great ruler, who was able to bring into 
one dominion the broken provinces of 
Italy, and to rule them so well that 
quiet and prosperity prevailed. 

While Theodoric was ruling in Italy, 
another German, Clovis, of the Franks, 
was building his kingdom in Gaul. 

There he had a hard struggle, but 
finally made himself supreme. He put 

393 



out of the way, by war, or poison, or some 
other form of murder, everyone v/ho 
might be a rival. 

This seems today a brutal and cruel 
form of ambition, but then it was the 
custom. Competition, among the early 
Germans, was always settled by battle or 
murder. 

Clovis, cruel as he was, stood high 
among his fellowmen, and was remem- 
bered with honor, because of the greatness 
and power he brought to his kingdom. 

After Clovis and Theodoric died, about 
526, nearly three hundred years passed 
without a great leader among the Ger- 
man people. 

In 714. Charles M artel strengthened his 
nation by waging successful war against 
the Arabs in Spain, and other tribes, 
who threatened the safety of the Germans. 

The campaign of Charles prepared the 
way for a still more important ruler, 
Pepin. Pepin overcame the Lombards, 
who threatened the safety of the pope, 
and gave the pope great tracts of land in 

394 



Italy that he took from the Lombards. 
Pepin organized into one realm the 
territory of north Italy, France and south 
Germany. He left this kingdom in good 
order to a son, Charlemagne, who became 
one of the great rulers of history. 

Theodoric, who controlled Italy, Clovis, 
who reigned in France, and Pepin, who 
ruled a large part of both countries, were 
all of German blood, but Charlemagne 
is the first ruler we may call the King of 
Germany, because he extended his realm 
up into that land known as Germany 
today. 




Courtesy Raymond Ca- Whitcomb 

LUDWIG CASTLE. BAVARIA 

395 



CHARLEMAGNE 

68 TO 814 

The Saxons were warlike, proud, 
powerful. They lived in large tribes 
among the forests and marshes of Ger- 
many. Some had gone over into Eng- 
land, conquering the Britons there, and 
establishing homes. 

To conquer these Saxons, Charlemagne 
fought more than thirty years. When 
they were beaten in battle, the Saxons 
would hide in the forests till they found 
a chance to strike back. 

They had no towns nor cities, nor 
even dwellings of any value, and Charle- 
magne had to follow them about in the 
wilderness. 

''I will conquer these people if I have 
to drive them into the sea," he cried. 

The Saxons would keep no treaties of 
peace, and more than once murdered 

396 



envoys of peace sent to them by Charle- 



magne. 



At this he roused himself, raised a great 
army, and slaughtered thousands of their 
best warriors. 

The Saxons were forced to submit. 
Gradually Charlemagne built roads into 
their forests, made towns, and public 
improvements, and sent missionaries from 
the Church of Rome. 

The Saxons were stubborn but not 
stupid. When they came to know 
Charlemagne, and to understand what 
he planned, they changed their minds. 

"We thought this king meant to kill 
our men and take our wives and children 
into slavery," they said. ''But he helps 
us to build better homes. He protects 
us from our enemies. He selects our 
best men for governors. In winter we 
used to starve and freeze. Now we can 
be warm and eat." 

The vast empire brought together by 
Charlemagne was the result of service 
like this. He had a deep and sincere love 

397 



for his people. After he had conquered, he 
made friends of those who had been his 
enemies. 

When he came to die he sent for his 
favorite son. 

"Will you fear God, care for the 
Church, love your people like your 
children, aid the poor, appoint honest. 
God-fearing officers, and live an upright 
life?" 

"I will,'' answered his son, weeping. 

*'Then put on this crown, and may you 
remember your promise . ' ' 

So ended the great king who gathered 
the scattered tribes, and had made the 
German nation a unit. 

Although these people drew apart into 
various combinations after that time, it 
was Charlemagne that laid the foundation 
on which the German nation now stands. 



398 



GERMANY DIVIDED INTO 
STATES 

After Charlemagne, no king had the 
power to hold his great empire together. 

France soon became a separate kingdom, 
never again to be ruled by the Germans. 

Italy was considered to be part of the 
German Empire for centuries after this, 
but most of the time her great cities were 
ruled by princes who lived there, and 
conducted affairs in their own way. 

In that central region now called Ger- 
many, several rulers gained power over 
large domains, and became electoral 
princes. 

These electoral princes, or electors, had 
the right to vote for the emperor. A 
powerful leader might force them to ap- 
point his son to succeed him as emperor, 
but they went through the form of an 
election, and frequently could say just 
who the next emperor should be. 

399 



The electors In Germany, like the great 
lords in France, had more power when the 
emperor was weak, and less power when 
the emperor was strong. 

In Germany, however, there appeared 
no line of Capets to unify the kingdom, 
and long after the French were a strong, 
centralized nation, the German princes 
were battling among themselves for land 
and leadership. 




A LAKE IN NORTHERN ITALY 
The early Germans coveted these lovely lands, and fought bitterly to 

win them. 



400 



HENRY I 

919 

For a hundred years after his death, the 
descendants of Charlemagne served as 
emperors with small success. Then the 
sceptre passed into the hands of a Saxon, 
Henry I, called the Fowler. 

Henry I was a king of great energy and 
shrewd judgment. He w^on the various 
electors to his ideas, and was able to raise 
a large army. 

With this army Henry I at once began 
to enlarge and unify the German terri- 
tories. 

It is interesting to remember that at 
this time, in 923, Henry I took Alsace and 
Lorraine from France. These provinces 
were even then in hot dispute between 
France and Germany. 

The northern part of Germany was 
developed, the frontier was fortified. 

401 



On the east Henry I made a secure de- 
fence against the Huns, or Hungarians, 
as they had come to be called. 

Henry I made little effort to force the 
Italian princes to obey his rule, and did 
not even visit Rome, to prove his author- 
ity, as most emperors did. His great 
ambition was^to form a united Fatherland 
for the German people. 

By his energy and diplomacy, Henry I 
was able to enlarge the German nation, 
to raise the standards of living, to secure 
peace and more prosperity for many of 
his people, and to join in common aims 
several electoral princes. 




A SHRINE WHERE CRUSADERS MIGHT PRAY 

402 



GERMANY IN THE CRUSADES 

1100 TO ABOUT 1300 

Many kings followed Henry I, as 
emperors of Germany, or the Holy Roman 
Empire, as they liked to call it; but little 
occurred to change the condition of 
things until about iioo, when the holy 
crusades began. 

The Children's Crusade was a wonder- 
ful, but sad adventure. Led by priests 
and monks, and a large boy, called 
Stephen, thirty thousand German child- 
ren and twenty thousand children from 
France, marched away to embark for the 
Holy Land. 

It was thought that pure children might 
do more than the older people, who had 
known evil. 



402 



Alas! The innocent little ones said good- 
bye forever to their homes. Thousands 
died on the road; and thousands more 
were seized and sold as slaves. Very few 
lived to return and tell of their sufferings. 

When they realized what had happened 
to their children, the people w^ere frantic 
with grief and rage. For generations sad 
and awful tales were told of the Children's 
Crusade. 

No country was more greatl}^ influenced 
by the Crusades than Germany. Here, 
as in France, thousands of turbulent, 
warlike nobles went off to Palestine, and 
returned no more. 

Thousands of sober, industrious citizens 
at home gained rights and opportunities 
they had never before enjoyed. 

The Crusaders returning from their 
travels brought back new ideas and fresh 
ambitions. They had met people far 
more advanced than they in the arts of 
civilized life. They saw, for the first 
time, cities with handsome buildings, 
and streets, and water supplies. 

404 



They came in touch with people who 
read and wrote, and painted pictures, 
and carved in marble, and wove beautiful 
cloth on wonderful looms. 

Contact with such life made a deep 
impression on the Germans, as it did on 
the French, and a desire for new and 
better ways of life and thought began to 
stir in German breasts. 

All through western Europe the Cru- 
sades, while they seemed to have the 
saving of the Holy Land for their cause 
and aim, were really the expression of a 
people rising from a long period of mental 
darkness. 

These people began to awake. They 
longed for adventure and for change. 
The Crusades gave scope for such ambi- 
tions, and led them out into a world that 
roused still deeper longing to be free. 



4Ud 



FREDERICK BARBAROSSA 

Among the emperors who rose to 
renown during the Crusade period, 
Frederick Barbarossa, or Red Beard, 
gained the greatest fame. 

Frederick Barbarossa had the qualities 
which made kings great. He w^as strong, 
handsome, and genial. He also had 
courage, and the will to act quickly as his 
decisions were made. 

One serious mistake kept Frederick 
Barbarossa from building the united 
fatherland of German states which he 
hoped to complete. This mistake was 
his unbridled ambition to rule all the old 
Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne, 
which included Italy. 

This effort took Frederick into Italy 
during many years, when he should have 
been looking after affairs in Germany. 
The heat and pestilence in that land cost 

406 



him thousands of his best soldiers. His 
absence from Germany allowed turbulent 
princes there to break down his organized 
work, and kept provinces apart which 
should have been united. 

Frederick Barbarossa was the revenge- 
ful king who levelled the walls of Milan 
in 1 163, and left her people without a roof 
to shelter them. 

At last the currents of the Crusades 
caught Frederick Barbarossa, as they had 
caught so many princes, and swept him 
out to the Holy Land, where he fought 
gloriously. 

There he fell into a river near Tarsus, 
the birthplace of Paul the Apostle. The 
icy water from the hills chilled him, and 
he drowned before help could come. 

In spite of his many mistakes and his 
many enemies, Frederick Barbarossa 
made himself the most powerful and most 
respected king in Europe. He brought 
many petty dukedoms together into larger 
units, and he established order and se- 
curity in the life of the common people. 

407 



THE TARTAR INVASION 

1200 TO 1250 

While thousands of soldiers were oiF on 
the Crusades, a new peril threatened the 
very existence of Germany. The great 
and terrible Genghis Kahn led a horde of 
Tartars westward from their home on the 
steppes of Asia. 

In 1 215, while Genghis Kahn himself 
was conquering China and Persia, his son 
led an army into Europe. These Tartars 
were much like the Huns, who had swept 
over Europe in the fifth century. They 
left death and ruin everywhere behind 
them. 

In spite of frantic efforts to repel their 
hordes, the Tartars desolated the lands 
farther and farther west, until they had 
passed the Danube. Then their emperor 
died, the kingdom gradually broke up, and 
Germany was saved from destruction. 

408 



REVOLT OF THE SWISS CANTONS 

1300 TO 1315 

After the Crusades, a new spirit woke 
here and there in Germany. In the 
mountains the people of the Swiss cantons 
had been brought under the rule of 
Austria. 

Finding that the Swiss were growing 
more and more independent and restless, 
the emperor placed over them as governor 
a stupid, tyrannical nobleman, named 
Gessler. 

''I will tame these wild mountaineers, 
and make them come at your call," 
promised Gessler. 

For a time the Swiss obeyed the orders 
of this tyrant, but the more he secured, 
the more he demanded. 

At last, according to the old-time story, 
he put his hat in the market place of 
Altdorf. 

409 



*'Now," he commanded, "let every 
peasant who passes by bow down to this 
hat, and remember the power of Austria." 

Before long William Tell, the best 
marksman in the mountains, came through 
the market place w4th his boy. 

He saw the hat, but refused to bow 
down before it. 

''Arrest him!" cried Gessler. 

''Now, knave," he went on, "we will 
tie your boy to yonder tree. Place an 
apple on his head, and shoot an arrow 
through it. Shoot well, for if you miss 
the mark your boy must die." 

Tell trembled, partly from rage. 

"I fear not your arrow, father," cried 
the lad. "Do not tie me to a tree. I 
shall not stir a finger. You never miss." 

Tell knew he must shoot, or the boy 
w^ould be killed, so he took careful aim. 
The arrow sped true. The apple fell in 
halves at the boy's feet. 

As Tell was set free, an arrow fell from 
his coat. 

"What was that for?" asked Gessler. 

410 



"To kill thee, tyrant, had I hurt my 
boy." 

''Bind him," ordered Gessler. 

Then fearing the crowds that began to 
gather, he took him, bound, in an open 
beat, intending to cross the lake. 

But a storm broke. Gessler knew little 
of boating, and was helpless in the raging 
wind. 

Cutting the rope that bound Tell, he 
ordered him to guide them to the shore. 

Tell skilfully steered the boat to a 
lonel}^ point, jumped to a rock, and with 
the same movement, pushed the boat out 
into the waves. 

After drifting down the shore, Gessler 
finally made his way again to land. He 
left the boat, and was about to enter the 
forest, when he fell dead with an arrow in 
his heart. 

Tell hastened through the mountains, 
rousing his comrades. They swore never 
again to submit to the commands of 
foreign rulers. Gessler's palace was de- 
stroyed. The Austrian soldiers were 

411 



driven out, and the banner of the Swiss 
Confederation was unfurled. 

Many a bloody battle has been fought, 
but the Swiss have never lowered that 
banner to this day . 




WILLIAM TELL ESCAPES FROM THE BOAT 

412 



THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE 

While the brave Swiss were fighting 
for their freedom, another confederation 
was growing, about 1200, upon the shores 
of the North Sea, across from England. 

To protect themselves and their trade 
from pirates and robber barons, who in- 
fested sea and shore, a group of cities 
bound themselves together in a league. 
These cities cared little about politics or 
kingdoms. They had the single aim of 
developing trade, and protecting the 
traders. 

As their success became clear, one city 
after another joined the Hanseatic League 
until more than fifty important cities in 
north and central Germany had become 
members. 

The league established trading centers 
in Denmark, England, Sweden, Russia 
and France. Almost every flag that 

413 



floated over a merchant ship, from the 
English Channel to Russia, was the flag of 
the Hanseatic League. 

So closely did they unite their interests, 
and so firmly did they hold together, that 
for many years these cities had far more 
power than many German princes. 

England, and other northern countries, 
made trade treaties with them, and they 
had a great influence in upholding the 
prestige of Germany and developing her 
resources. 

As the northern countries developed, 
many of these cities gradually lost their 
power and independence, but a few, 
Hamburg among them, remained inde- 
pendent states until 1 871, when they 
joined with the other states in forming 
the German Fatherland. 



414 



THE GUILDS 

For several centuries after the Cru- 
sades, trade and the crafts developed 
rapidly in Germany, and, while the 
nobles were constantly fighting each 
other, the common people were steadily 
and industriously adding to their own 
wealth and that of their country. 

As the members of those engaged in 
weaving, in shoe making, in hat making, 
and the other trades, increased, those 
engaged in each trade joined in societies 
called guilds. 

These guilds were something like the 
trade unions of today, but all workers in 
each trade, both masters and servants, 
belonged to the organization. 

The guilds had strict rules for appren- 
tices, who must serve several years with- 
out pay. They fixed standards of quality, 
and punished those who did poor work. 

415 



Thus the guild protected both producer 
and consumer. With its power to buy to 
advantage, and sell to advantage, its 
social events, and its wide service to 
all members, the guild embraced most 
workers in the trades during the middle 
ages, and proved a source of wealth and 
strength throughout western Europe. 




JOHN HUSS 

During many generations there had 
been a contest between the Emperors of 
Germany and the Popes of Rome. Both 
wished to be considered supreme. 

Sometimes, when the pope was a great 
man, he would exercise the authority, and 
then again a strong emperor would secure 
domination. 

In matters of religion, the doctrines 
taught by the Church of Rome had, up 
to the time of the Crusades, been ac- 
cepted throughout Germany without 
much question. 

The contact of the Crusaders with 
people of other races and other religions, 
however, brought about new points of 
view and various questions. 

John Huss was a renowned scholar, 
rector of the Bohemian University of 
Prague. He discussed many of these 

417 



questions, and arrived at conclusions not 
in accord with certain of the doctrines of 
the Roman Church. 

The preaching of Huss caused criticism 
on the part of the authorities of the 
Roman Church, who demanded that the 
preacher be punished as a heretic. 

In 14 14, the emperor ordered that Huss 
appear for trial before a Church Council. 
The emperor gave Huss a written paper 
to assure his safety while at the trial. 

The Council found John Huss guilty of 
heresy, and sentenced him to be burned. 
Then John Huss showed his ''safe con- 
duct" by the emperor. The emperor 
took the ground, however, that ''no faith 
is to be kept with heretics." 

So John Huss was thrown into the 
dungeon, and soon after was burned as a 
heretic. His death caused fierce indigna- 
tion in Bohemia and throughout Ger- 
many. Hundreds of nobles in Germany 
signed a paper declaring, in defiance of 
the Roman Church, that the doctrines of 
Huss must be freely taught. 

418 



The friends of Huss in Bohemia brought 
together an army of Hussites. These 
avengers marched through Bohemia to 
Austria, destroying many convents and 
monasteries. 

The emperor who had betrayed Huss, 
and who marched out to oppose the 
Hussites, was defeated, just escaping with 
his Hfe. The Hussite war continued for 
sixteen years, and the advantage rested 
with the HuvSsites. Thousands of people 
lost their lives, and the Church was 
despoiled of much property. 

At last, wearied of the contest, the 
emperor begged for peace, and conces- 
sions were made which allowed greater 
freedom of faith. 



419 



'GUTENBERG 
INVENTION OF PRINTING 

1450 

While, during the centuries after the 
Crusades, from 1300 to 1600, kings and 
princes were fighting and playing politics 
all over Europe, great men were rising 
from the ranks of those who had no titles. 

In 1450, John Gutenberg brought about, 
through the use of movable type, a 
development of printing that made greater 
changes, and advanced the world more 
than all the kings and nobles of his 
generation. 

Until the days of Gutenberg only a 
few could read. Almost all learning was 
confined to the priests and monks. Many 
kings had to sign state papers with seals, 
as they could not write their names. 

In the souls of thousands a new 
ambition had been aroused, a new desire 

420 



to know about the world and their 
brothers in other lands. 

But how should they satisfy this long- 
ing? There were few who could teach 
them. Books were made by monks with 
pen and ink, and cost more than a peasant 
could earn in ten years. 

John Gutenberg won the credit for 
helping to satisfy this craving, and be- 
stowing a true blessing on his fellowmen. 
With type he could print many copies of 
a book so clearly that students could 
read with ease, and so cheaply that 
thousands could now own books. 

So great was the demand for books that 
within fifty years hundreds of master 
printers were at work in Germany, and 
hundreds more were spreading into other 
parts of Europe. 

The art of printing ended the days when 
the people must believe what they were 
told. Events after this followed rapidly. 
By one step after another the races of 
western Europe rose to freedom. 



421 



MARTIN LUTHER 

As Germany grew in wealth and popu- 
lation, the rivalry between emperors and 
popes became keener and more bitter. 
The popes were anxious to increase the 
influence of the church in all lands. The 
erection of splendid buildings to adorn 
the city of Rome, and the carrying on of 
expensive wars, in connection with the 
territories under control of the pope, 
required vast sums of money. 

Complaints arose that too much gold 
and silver were going out of the country, 
thus leaving the empire poor. The Ger- 
man people felt that they could use this 
money in their own land, and they 
resented more and more seeing it go to 
Italy. 

The sermons of Huss, and the books 
that Gutenberg made possible, gradually 
aroused the German people. Radical 

422 



changes in thought and hfe spread rapidly 
through her growing cities. People began 
to show a disposition to think for them- 
selves and form their own opinions. 

There is a saying that large bodies 
move slowly. The largest body of that 
day was the Roman Catholic Church. 
The spiritual followers of the pope, spread 
throughout Europe, were far more numer- 
ous than the subjects of any one king or 
emperor. These millions of the Catholic 
faith belonged, not to one race, but to 
many races. 

For many centuries the teaching of the 
Bible had been given out to these people 
in sermons. Books were very costly, 
because they were all written or printed 
by hand. They were often chained to 
walls or stone pillars, so they could not 
be carried away; just as directories and 
telephone boks are fastened today in 
public places. 

As it took years of labor for a monk to 
make one copy of the Bible, those who 
wished to read it were obliged to go to 

423 



the monastery or library, where it was 
closely guarded. Moreover, the monks 
always wrote the Bible in Latin, because 
the few people who were educated all 
read that language. 

With the invention of the printing 
press by Gutenberg, books became cheaper 
and more common. Men also began to 
print books in the German language. 

About this time there lived in Germany 
a monk named Martin Luther. Because 
of ideas which he had, and changes which 
he started, Luther stands out as one of 
the most prominent personages in Ger- 
man history. No king or emperor has 
had a greater influence on the history of 
Germany, in the past four hundred years, 
than this man who first attracted atten- . 
tion as a simple monk. 

Martin Luther believed that the Bible 
should be printed in German, so the 
common people might learn to read it. 
As long as the printing press could pro- 
duce books in quantities, he thought 
people ought to have Bibles in their 

424 



homes, so he determined to translate the 
Testament into German. 

The custom of having only priests and 
monks read the Bible, because they were 
the only persons who knew how to read, 
had lasted for so many hundreds of years, 
that no one before Luther seems to have 
thought of a Bible written in any other 
language than Latin. 

About this time a monk came through 
Wittenburg, ''selling indulgences." In- 
dulgences were printed forms, issued in 
the name of the Pope of Rome. They 
promised forgiveness to sinners who would 
repent and perform pious acts. 

Martin Luther, who considered himself 
a loyal son of the Church, was shocked to 
see the Pope's indulgences thus peddled 
through the street. He determined to pro- 
test, and nailed to the church door a paper, 
which attacked the actions of the monk. 

Those of the clergy most familiar with 
these events, assure us that Luther was 
not the first nor the only one who pro- 
tested thus. When he nailed to the 

425 



church door, which served as a blackboard 
for the University, his arguments against 
peddHng indulgences through the streets, 
he intended merely to offer an academic 
challenge for a debate on the matter. 

Much to Luther's surprise, the paper 
he nailed up caused wide-spread excite- 
ment; and in a few days his arguments 
were copied in German and discussed all 
over the land. 

Now the bishops and cardinals were 
aroused against Luther. They declared 
that he must be prevented from assailing 
the doctrines of the Church. 

But Martin Luther would not retract 
what he had said. As the discussion 
grew more heated, and new thousands 
took part, a great council, or diet, was 
called at Worms, to settle the difficulty. 
Luther accepted the orders of the council, 
and went to Worms. His friends warned 
him of his danger and recalled the fate of 
Huss, but he feared neither torture nor 
death. 

After a long debate he was convicted 

426 



of heresy, for he still held firmly to his 
faith. 

"Here I stand," he declared, "As God is 
my help I cannot do otherwise." 

The Diet at Worms ordered all Luther's 
writings to be burned, and forbade all 
people to quote his teachings, but they 
spread rapidly throughout the land. The 
terrible results that followed the execution 
of Huss caused the authorities to hesitate 
before burning Luther as a heretic, but 
his friends insisted that he retire to a safe 
retreat. 

For some years, therefore, Martin 
Luther lived quietly in seclusion, working 
on his new Testament. Word by word 
he set it down in the best and simplest 
German he could find. When the work 
was finished, Luther presented his country 
not only with a faithful text of the Testa- 
ment, but a fine type of pure German 
language. Luther's Testament constitutes 
the foundation of modern German. 

Martin Luther wrote and preached for 
forty years, dying in 1546 at the age of 63 . 

427 



THE THIRTY YEARS WAR 

1618 TO 1648 

After the death of Martin Luther, 
those who had joined him in protesting 
against the old order of things found hfe 
more and more unhappy. The emperor, 
seeing thousands of his subjects in the 
Protestant ranks, decided that it was 
time to bring them back into the fold of 
the Catholic Church. 

The princes, as they did in the Hugue- 
not wars of France, joined sides as they 
thought their principles or profits led 
them. Gradually the situation grew 
worse and worse. 

The working classes all over southern 
Europe had now gained just enough 
knowledge to make them suspicious and 
violent. Thousands demanded new free- 
dom in religion and politics. The Catholic 
party fought to maintain its control, and 

428 



other thousands, with no reHgious grounds 
at all, joined the strife to gain what 
they could. 

It was a century of religious war, and. 
the Thirty Years War, that broke out in 
Germany in 1618, just before the Pil- 
grims fled to America, was the most 
terrible conflict that ever wasted a Euro- 
pean country. 

The Thirty Years' War began in Ger- 
many between the rival Protestants and 
Catholics, but soon it spread. Denmark, 
when she saw the Protestants in danger, 
joined their cause. She helped them with 
some success, but soon they were again 
on the verge of ruin. 

The Scandinavian States had very 
promptly accepted the doctrines of Luther. 
Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden was 
keenly interested in the Protestant reform. 
For several years he watched events while 
he was organizing his forces for action. 

In 1630, with the approval of his 
Council, and of the whole country, he 
declared war for the protection of the 

429 



Protestant faith. To the Swedish people 
he said: ''The Emperor of Germany has 
wronged our country. The oppressed 
states of Germany call for our aid, which, 
by God's help, we will give them. I bid 
you all an earnest, it may be an eternal, 
farewell." 

The noblest and best soldier of his 
age, Gustavus Adolphus led his army 
into Germany to help the Protestants. 
Almost alone among the commanders of 
the time, he forbade looting of all kinds. 
He saw to it that the soldiers were regu- 
larly paid and properly fed. 

When this was understood by the 
German people, they opened to him the 
gates of their cities. When they saw him 
win victory after victory, the Protestants 
flocked to his standards, and his army of 
invasion was kept strpng. 

''With the sword in one hand and 
mercy in the other, he traversed Germany 
as a conqueror, a lawgiver, and a judge. 
The keys of towns and fortresses were 
delivered to him as to a native sovereign. 

430 



For a time nothing checked his victorious 



career." 



What great things Gustavus Adolphus 
might have done for Germany and the 
Protestant cause, had he hved, can only 
be guessed. After a series of wonderful 
victories, and two years spent in healing 
the wounds of a bleeding country, this 
generous, heroic king was killed in 1632, 
and the Protestants were left without a 
leader. 

Wallenstein was the great general on 
the Catholic or Imperial side, and with 
Gustavus gone, he now won success. 
Wallenstein was little like Gustavus. He 
was cruel and avaricious. Wherever his 
armies went, the country was devastated, 
and the property of friend as of foe was 
taken . 

Wallenstein grew so rich from his 
terrible campaigns that his income was 
many times that of the emperor. His 
ambition knew no bounds, and at last 
it was feared he intended to desert the 
Catholic cause. 

431 



One night armed men stole up to his 
chamber by a secret stairway, and killed 
him before he could call for help. 

After the death of Wallenstein, the 
war gradually wore itself away. In the 
end Germany was desolate. Her best 
people were dead. Her fields were wild 
land. Her cities were smoking ruins. 

But with the desolation there came to 
Germany freedom and opportunity. Old 
ties were broken. Old principalities and 
kingdoms united in new bonds of interest. 
The very ruin of 1650 helped in many 
ways the formation of the united Father- 
land that was to come. 




HUGUENOTS ESCAPING TO GERMANY 

432 



THE GREAT ELECTOR 

The end of the Thirty Years* War was 
also the end, in fact, if not in form, of the 
German, or "Holy Roman" Empire. 
A waste of unused land and destroyed 
towns was left to the emperor of Ger- 
many, and his total revenue was less than 
the income of a prosperous merchant 
today. 

From now on each little state of the 
empire was to struggle for its own exist- 
ence. 

Brandenburg was a large state in 
northern Germany, with Berlin for its 
capital city. The whole extent of Bran- 
denburg had been laid waste by the 
armies, not once, but several times. 

In 1640, as the war was dying away, a 
young man of twenty, Frederick William, 
known later as The Great Elector, 
inherited the throne of Brandenburg, 

433 



which was a barren waste. This was a 
hollow and dreary prospect for a brilliant, 
thoughtful youth. 

Yet Frederick William set manfully to 
work. Other princes followed the fashion 
of Louis XIV, and spent every coin they 
could wring from their people in pleasure 
and display. Frederick William gave his 
whole attention to making life happier for 
his people and restoring order in his 
destr acted state. 

During some years spent in Holland 
Frederick William had learned that civil 
and religious freedom make for prosperity. 

''My people shall be happy; they shall 
be prosperous, or I shall die ashamed," he 
declared. 

Agriculture increased. Waste lands 
were brought into fertility. Schools were 
built. Throngs of immigrants from other 
lands, when they heard how well Fred- 
erick William treated his subjects, flocked 
to Brandenburg. 

As education and order increased, those 
who wished to live by pillage disappeared, 

434 



while the number of those who wished to 
Hve by labor increased greatly. Among 
those valued workers were twenty thou- 
sand from France, who fled when Louis 
XIV began to persecute the Protestants. 

When Frederick William died, in 1688, 
he had no reason to be ashamed of his 
life as a ruling prince. 

He left a people more happy, more 
prosperous, more contented than the 
citizens in any other German state, a 
kingdom out of which the dream of cen- 
turies was soon to grow. 




THE CASTLE AT LUNBERG, GERMANY 



435 



FREDERICK I OF PRUSSIA 

Frederick, son of the Great Elector, 
must be remembered for one important 
act. 

Prussia was in 1688 simply a province 
dependent on Brandenburg. 

The emperor of Germany offered to give 
Frederick, elector of Brandenburg, the 
title of king, if he would help him fight 
the French. 

Frederick was ready to accept the offer, 
but an old custom forbade an elector of 
Brandenburg to be king also. 

For this reason Frederick changed his 
title altogether. He went over into 
Prussia, and was crowned in Konigsburg 
King of Prussia. 

Thus the name of Prussia, little known 
before 1688, became important, because 
it gave its name to all the estates that 
were ruled by Frederick. 

436 



FREDERICK WILLIAM I 

The son of the first King of Prussia, 
and grandson of the Great Elector, whose 
name was also Frederick William, at 
once began to do many things his grand- 
father would have wished, when he became 
king. 

Upon his coronation, in 1714.? he cast 
aside every extravagance, and every 
wasteful method that had crept into the 
growing kingdom of Prussia. 

"Every hand is waiting to snatch our 
wealth. Our people must be trained to 
understand their real needs and to pro- 
tect themselves," he declared. 

With watchful care Frederick William I 
administered the increasing revenues, so 
that large sums became available for state 
improvements. While other monarchs 
were spending millions in extravagant fes- 
tivities and display, that impoverished 

437 



their people, Frederick William I built 
roads and canals and bridges. He stim- 
ulated trade and industry in every way. 

When thousands of artisans, driven 
from their home country by poverty and 
religious persecution, sought shelter, he 
provided them with lands, and promised 
all freedom to worship as they wished. 

Above all other state institutions was 
the army. Prosperous, wealthy Prussia 
would be like a fat goose in a dog kennel, 
without a strong army to protect her 
borders. War for conquest and revenge 
seemed at that time to be the great occu- 
pation of nearly all the rulers of Europe. 

From his coronation in 17 14, to his 
death in 174.0, the rough, uncultured 
Frederick William I, the second king of 
Prussia, made the army his chief hobby. 
He gave to its personel and its discipline 
more and more attention as time went on, 
until the Prussian regiments aroused the 
admiration and respect of all Europe. 

When he died in 1740, this rough drill- 
master, who had ruled as an absolute 

438 



despot, left to his son a strong, unified 
kingdom, a full treasury, a people trained 
to industry and frugality, and a splendid 
army, perfectly equipped for war. 




MARIA THERESA 

439 



FREDERICK THE GREAT 

1740 

Frederick the Great was a young man 
who had suffered much from the stern, 
harsh rule of his father. The boy was 
studious, musical, artistic. He was fond 
of literature and philosophy. The old 
king, his father, had turned the palace 
into a camp, with constant drill, drill, drill. 

It was a bitter regret to the father that 
young Frederick loved arts better than 
drill. He even threatened to shoot the 
lad's instructors if he found them in the 
palace. 

When the young prince became king, 
in 1740, the rulers in Europe said to 
themselves: "We shall not need to worry 
now about that Prussian army. This 
Frederick will spend his time in study and 
frivolity. But a surprise was in store for 
Europe. 

440 



In 1745, Charles VII, Emperor of 
Austria, died, leaving the Imperial crown 
to his daughter, Maria Theresa. The 
German princes, including Frederick of 
Prussia, had agreed to accept her as the 
rightful heir of her father's domains. 

North of Austria, lying between that 
nation and Prussia, was the Austrian 
province of Silesia, which the Prussians 
had long desired to secure. 

Frederick the Great had a well organ- 
ized army ready for war. On the throne 
of Austria was a woman, inexperienced in 
war. 

One night a great ball was held in 
Berlin, which Frederick attended in state, 
but from which he slipped quietly away. 

Two days later the Prussian king 
crossed the borders of Silesia, and began 
what is known as the war of the Austrian 
Succession. 

The other European powers, while crit- 
icizing the action of the ' 'wicked King of 
Prussia," hastened to secure a share of 
the spoils. Austria was at once assailed 

441 



by the forces of France, Spain, and other 
states, whose rulers helped to secure some 
portion of the Queen's territories. 

But Maria Theresa was an able and 
energetic woman, and she fought fiercely 
to protect her own lands. 

England and Holland, seeing her success, 
thought it wise to help her, so Austria v/^as 
able to protect herself and save a large 
part of her territory. 

Frederick the Great, in the end, after a 
campaign that proved him one of the best 
generals of modern times, retained Silesia, 
in spite of the protests of Maria Theresa. 

He had now added a large, valuable 
territory to his kingdom, which reached 
down into the heart of Germany, and 
Prussia had become so strong that Austria 
alone could compete with Frederick the 
Great for the German leadership. 

Frederick realized that from now on he 
must make every effort to protect the 
lands he had seized, for Maria Theresa 
could never forget nor forgive the captreu 
of Silesia; and the rest of Europe watched 

442 



him with a jealous eye. Showing the 
greatest energy, he developed his new 
kingdom, with the single aim of making 
his people prosperous and strong. 

Frederick the Great worked day and 
night to keep in touch with every detail 
of his government. Even Louis XIV of 
France was no more despotic than he ; but 
Frederick earnestly labored to bring pros- 
perity to every citizen, high and low. 

Frederick even loaned his war horse to 
poor peasants to aid them in plowing. 

Seeing this self-sacrifice on the part of 
their king, the people of Prussia willingly 
did as he asked, and bent their energies 
to building up the army, and making 
strong their borders. 

The unity of the new nation was com- 
pleted by religious toleration. ''I mean 
that every man in my kingdom shall have 
the right to be saved in his own way," 
declared Frederick. 

Under this liberal rule the people of 
Silesia quickly joined the Prussians in a 
true respect and regard for their new king. 

443 






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After ten years, in 1756, the expected 
blow fell. Maria Theresa secured the 
help of France, Russia, and Sweden, and 
attacked Prussia to regain her lost 
Silesia. 

Then came gloomy days for Frederick 
the Great. Against overwhelming odds 
Frederick and his Prussians fought with 
desperate valor. 

His swift action and supreme military 
genius saved his country from destruction 
for a time. Then fortune favored his 
enemies. Even the help of England 
failed to sustain him against the enemy. 
His own palace in Berlin was occupied by 
the foe. 

Just as all seemed lost, a new event 
saved Prussia. The Queen of Russia, 
who hated Frederick, sent a large army to 
join with the Austrians in a final crushing 
blow. 

The Russian army was ready to attack, 
when the queen died. The new Russian 
king, a friend to Frederick, at once ordered 
his generals to fight on the Prussian side. 

444 



Then Sweden and France made peace, 
and the war ended in 1763, with Silesia 
still a part of Prussia. 

Poland, a vast land between Prussia 
and Russia, was ruled by a group of sel- 
fish nobles who had brought Poland into 
a helpless condition. 

Prussia, Austria and Russia now joined 
in a plan to swallow this helpless nation. 
This was done very easily, for Poland 
could not defend herself. 

A large part of Poland was now added 
to Prussia, enabling Frederick the Great 
to join West Prussia with East Prussia, 
which had formerly been separated by 
part of Poland. 

Thus Frederick had been able to add 
greatly to the expanse and wealth of 
Prussia, by a deliberate attack on a help- 
less neighbor state. 

With wonderful rapidity Frederick re- 
peated in Poland what he had done in 
Silesia. The land was developed, roads 
were improved, canals dug, live stock 
supplied, honest, helpful officials installed, 

445 



families moved where they could prosper 
best, and religious freedom granted. 

Soon these people blessed the day 
they passed from the wretched rule of the 
Polish princes into the control of Frederick 
the Great. 

After this war the reign of Frederick the 
Great passed in comparative peace until 
his death in 1786. 

Frederick was not called "The Great" 
because of his success in war, where he 
deliberately attacked his neighbors to 
take their lands away, but because of his 
wonderful capacity to make his people 
happy and prosperous. 

Other kings in Europe, seeing the rapid 
rise of Prussia under such intelligent rule, 
tried to copy his methods, with little 
success. Their nobles thwarted their best 
intentions. But no one in Prussia dared 
thwart Frederick. He was an absolute 
despot, but apart from his passion for war, 
he ruled for the good of his people, and 
lived to make Prussia one of the leading 
nations of Europe. 

446 



PERIOD OF RE\^OLUTION 

1789 TO 1815 

Hardly had Frederick the Great died 
when the storm burst in France that was 
to change the face of Europe in many 
ways. 

Frederick WiUiam II, who followed 
Frederick Ihe Great, had little ability to 
care for Prussia in the turmoil of w^ar. 
Napoleon, whose leadership began in 
1795, carried his victorious armies into 
all corners of Europe After a vigorous 
effort, the German people saw that 
defence would be impossible. The great 
Napoleon was too much for them. 

For many years the illusion of the 
German empire had been kept up. The 
electors had met now and then to go 
through the form of electing an emperor, 
who had no power at all. 

No one was much interested in this 
447 



old worn-out form they still called an 
empire, but no one knew how to bring it 
to an end. Historians ajiiused themselves 
by saying that it was neither Holy nor 
Roman, nor an Empire. 

Now, under the attacks of Napoleon, 
many of the free, imperial cities along the 
Rhine, and in West Germany, were com- 
bined into larger units. The electors were 
lost in the shuffle, and never again voted 
for an emperor. 

Austria and Prussia both suffered seri- 
ously from the attacks of the French, and 
it became more and more clear to thought- 
ful Germans that, if their state was to 
continue to exist, they must unite with 
each other in closer bonds of union. The 
fate of Poland taught them a lesson that 
was plain for all to learn. 

Napoleon conquered every army that 
opposed him, and finally made peace in 
1807, dictating his own terms. 

In the peace settlement of 1807 Prussia 
lost all her Polish territories. She saw 
half her lands taken away. The wheel 

448 



of fortune brought her back to where she 
had been a century before, and made her a 
vassal state of France. 

Before Napoleon's invasions there were 
in Germany two great states, Austria and 
Prussia. There were about twenty states 
of the second rank, hardly larger than 
modern cities. There w^ere about two 
hundred and fifty principalities of the 
third rank, some no larger than a farm. 

Besides these there were hundreds of 
nobles, each ruling his own palace and 
lands, many even maintaining little armies. 
Each had this tax system, and claimed 
power of life and death over his own few 
subjects. 

Historians say that there were nearly 
two thousand independent states, great 
and tiny, crowded into a space about the 
size of Texas. 

Napoleon paid no more attention to 
these petty rulers than we would pay 
to flies. He crushed them all, and fitted 
their holdings into new kingdoms as he 
pleased. 

449 



PRUSSIA LEADS THE WAY 

Still under the dominion of Napoleon, 
and shrunk to half her former state, 
Prussia at once took steps that were to 
lead her back to the front ranks of 
Germany. 

The system of nobility, by which the 
working classes had been kept almost as 
serfs, forbidden to rise to anything better, 
was broken down ; and many new privileges 
came to the people. 

Liberal reforms, that brought all classes 
closer together, were promptly adopted. 
The people of Prussia were roused to a 
new pitch of patriotic zeal. 

Napoleon forbade Prussia to have a 
standing army of more than 42,000 men. 
Under this regulation the Prussians 
planned to drill 42,000 till they were 
well trained. Then they took 42,000 new 

450 



men and formed another army; while 
the first returned to civil life. 

By this means Prussia had a great 
number of trained men ready in 1813, to 
help defeat Napoleon; and won much 
prestige in Europe. 

Prussia continued this plan of training 
men to fight, from that time on, and made 
her army the ver^^ heart and center of 
her national ambitions. 

The French Revolution of 1789 woke 
the people of Germany to new ideas of 
freedom. The young men all through the 
German states demanded an opportunity 
to share in the government. 

Rule by the king and his nobles was 
denounced by thousands of young students 
as unfair to the people and harmful to the 
state. 

In various German states plans were 
made, and promises secured from the 
princes, to carry out reforms that would 
give these ambitious citizens a chance 
to share in the government. 

When, after Waterloo, the iron grasp of 

451 



Napoleon was lifted from Germany, the 
kings and princes forgot most of their 
promises. 

In Prussia and Austria especially, where 
the monarchs had pledged themselves to 
large reforms, little was done, and the 
kings settled down again to rule by royal 
power. 

Prussia failed to carry out her promises 
of reform in politics, but in other ways her 
people gained far more than the French, 
who secured a constitution and a form of 
political freedom. 

Led by Prussia, the German states in 
1842 joined in a customs union that greatly 
increased the prosperity of all, and made 
the Germans see more clearly than ever 
the advantages of uniting in one empire. 

As years went on, the desire for union, 
and also for political freedom, grew more 
intense. One after another the southern 
states granted constitutions, and forms 
of popular government. Still Austria and 
Prussia held out. 



452 



PRUSSIA GRANTS A 
CONSTITUTION 

1848 

The year 1848 saw changes and revo- 
lutions throughout Europe. France drove 
out her king, Louis PhiUppe. The tide of 
popular demand for the rights of the 
people was rising fast. 

In Berlin Frederick William IV found 
crowds before his palace, who demanded 
that the old promises be kept. He waited, 
delayed, postponed; but the people re- 
fused to wait longer. 

Arms were brought. Shots were fired. 
From his palace window Frederick William 
IV saw hundreds of his subjects borne 
away dead or dying. 

^ 'Stop J" he cried. "The time has come. 
The rights they demand shall be granted." 

A constitution was framed which gave 
the Prussian people the right to elect 

453 



representatives, and to help in making 
laws. Their power was still very small, 
and that of the king was very great, but 
they accepted the reform as an improve- 
ment over old conditions. 

At this time a serious effort was made 
to form a federation of German states, 
which should bind them into a Father- 
land. Conventions were called, and diets 
were held, but jealousy and misunder- 
standing kept these efforts from bringing 
the hoped-for results. 




FREDERICK THE GREAT 

454 



BISMARK 

The revolution of 1848 brought a man 
into prominence who, for many years, 
was destined to be the greatest figure in 
Germany. 

Count Bismark believed in the rule of 
kings, and in a great army to maintain 
the royal authority. 

/'We are surrounded by foes who wish 
our downfall. Men and arms, blood and 
iron, will decide our fate. How else can 
we win our place in the world than with a 
powerful army, directed by a king who 
can decide instantly, and who has the 
power to enforce decisions?^* 

This argument had great weight. The 
Prussian people remembered only too 
well how nearly they had been destroyed 
by the French. They recalled the fate of 
Poland. They knew the hostility of 
Austria. 

455 



Much as they wanted freedom and 
peace, they wanted hfe and safety more. 
Much as they hated the rule of Bismark, 
they dreaded still more the rule of France 
or Austria. 

In Prussia, therefore, the king retained 
his power, and the army, the symbol of 
defence and victory, was accepted as the 
foundation of the state. 

In 1862, Bismark was sent to Paris, 
as ambassador. There he learned the 
plans and ambitions of Napoleon III, 
and he became convinced that the Em- 
peror had designs on the territory of 
Germany. 

Bismark also went to Russia, and 
Austria, and returned more determined 
than ever to make the Prussian army the 
most powerful in the world. 

''That alone can save us from destruc- 
tion," he declared. 

Beyond all other ambitions, Bismark 
held high hope of uniting all the German 
states into one empire, under the leader- 
ship of Prussia. 

456 



WAR WITH DENMARK 

1864 

By 1864 a new king had come to 
Prussia, William I, son of Frederick 
William III, who had been conquered by 
Napoleon. William trusted greatly in 
Bismark, and made him chancellor of the 
kingdom. 

Just south of Denmark lay two states, 
Schleswig and Holstein. The King of 
Denmark said they belonged to him. 
The people of these states were partly 
German, and their sympathies were 
divided. France helped stir them up. A 
revolution broke out, and the king of 
Denmark ended by annexing the two 
provinces to his kingdom. 

At this Bismark induced Austria to 
join Prussia in an attack on Denmark. 
He was eager to try his army in actual 
war. 

457 



All went just as Bismark had planned. 
His soldiers proved themselves all he had 
hoped. Denmark was quickly defeated, 
and Schleswig and Holstein were yielded 
to Prussia and Austria. 




QUEEN LOUISE AND HER SONS 
The boy on the left became William I, and took terrible revenge for the 
hardships Napoleon I inflicted on his lovely mother. 



458 



WAR WITH AUSTRIA 

The next play in this program was to 
settle accounts with Austria. 

The Prussian leaders knew that the 
issue must be fought out. They knew 
the power of their army, for every Prus- 
sian citizen was trained and ready. 

Every detail of preparation was exact, 
every route to Austria and France, was 
known yard by yard. Every soldier 
knew in advance just what he must do 
and was ready to obey. 

The rest of Europe knew little of this 
tremendous force. France was considered 
superior, and Austria fully equal to 
Prussia in a contest of arms. 

A dispute over the newly acquired land 
was easily developed into a war. By a 
promise of Venice, Bismark got Italy 
to attack from the south, while Prussia 
pounced upon Austria from the North. 

459 



Again all went as he had hoped. Austria 
was defeated so quickly that all Europe 
was dumbfounded. 

In the treaty that followed, Austria was 
excluded from German affairs. The old 
confederation was dissolved. Prussia be- 
came the head of a new federation of 
north German states, and annexed both 
Schleswig and Holstein. 

Europe now began to see the plan and 
power of Prussia. The skill of Bismark, 
and the efficiency of the Prussian army, 
had changed the face of Europe. 




GENERAL PERSHING, GENERAL FOCH, AND KING GEORGE 



460 



WAR WITH FRANCE 

1871 

The French were furious at the un- 
expected results of the Prussian victor}^ 
Napoleon III had expected a long, bitter 
struggle, that would weaken both Prussia 
and Austria, leaving him in a position 
to extend the boundaries of France well 
up toward the Rhine. 

Now Austria was crushed, and if he 
gained any of the Rhine lands he coveted, 
it must be from proud, victorious Prussia. 

In Prussia the feeling toward Bismark 
and his policies was utterly changed. 
Before the war he had been hated and 
distrusted. The Prussians had not realized 
their own strength, and they had dreaded 
such a war. 

Their sudden victory, and great profits, 
filled them with adoration for Bismark. 

461 



His policy of blood and iron now won 
admiration and support. 

Prussia's old-time foe, Austria, was 
beaten to the ground. Prussia was now 
the head of a great Federation, and had 
won riches and territory. It believed 
itself to be the leading nation in the world. 

The people of two great countries 
now scowled at each other across their 
boundaries, with mutual distrust, which 
was rapidly growing into hate. 

Neither France nor Prussia seemed to 
have any idea that it was possible for 
the two countries to live side by side in 
peace and prosperity, without a test of 
arms. Like boys in a country school, 
they must find out who was master. 

In France the war party, led on by 
Napolion III, stirred up the people by 
rumors and newspapers. Memories of 
the Great Napoleon were refreshed, and 
everything possible was done to win 
popular support for a war with Prussia. 

All these plans were eagerly, though 
secretly, encouraged by Bismark. 

462 



Mysterious reports went back and forth 
by letter and telegram. The French were 
led to believe that they could easily crush 
Prussian pride, as they had done sixty 
years before. 

The Prussian papers, under the control 
of the war leaders, told the people of the 
danger from a French attack. 

It was not long before Bismark saw with 
satisfaction the results of his propaganda, 
which had included some serious mis- 
statements. July 19, 1870, Napoleon 
III declared war on Prussia, and ordered 
his army to attack at once. 

The French, confused and poorly pre- 
pared, moved with what they thought 
was great speed, to carry war into Prussia. 

The Prussians, advancing with the pre- 
cision of clockwork, were at the boundaries 
to meet them. 

In vain the French armies tried to 
break through the ring of steel. It was 
impossible. After a few weeks the whole 
French force surrendered, and the world 
saw that Prussia had won another victory. 

463 



France fought with desperate courage, 
after her field armies were destroyed, but 
at last, with her soldiers gone, and Paris 
in the hands of the Prussians, she ac- 
knowledged defeat. 

The Prussians demanded an enormous 
sum of money, and the province of Alsace- 
Lorraine. 

These lands were of vast importance to 
Prussia, as iron and coal, greatly needed 
for her industries, were found there in 
abundance. 




BISMARK DICTATES TERMS OF SURRENDER TO THE 
FRENCH DEPUTIES 

464 



ONE FATHERLAND AT LAST 

In Germany the Franco-Prussian war 
brought results which Napoleon III had 
hoped to make impossible. The south 
German states now believed without 
question what Bismark had been trying 
to make them understand. 

They saw that their safety and success 
depended upon unity among all German 
people. Fulfillment of the hopes German 
statesmen had held for centuries was now 
possible. 

Every German state, except Austria, 
promptly joined in the German Empire, 
a solid, unified confederation, under 
Prussia. William I, King of Prussia, 
was crowned at Versailles in 1 871, as 
Emperor of Germany, the truly united 
German Fatherland. 

William I, as a boy, had seen a lovely 
mother, Queen Louise, die of a broken 

465 



heart, after the humiliation of Prussia by 
the French under Napoleon. It was his 
fortune to stand, as ruler of a powerful 
nation, in the very palace at Versailles 
where Napoleon had lived, and dictate 
terms of peace to the people of France. 

To the people of the new German 
Empire, the period following their mili- 
tary triumphs brought undreamed of 
prosperity and power. - 

Athens, after the defeat of Persia, rose 
to heights of brilliant achievement seldom 
seen in this world. So the Germans, 
with the age-long fear of foes on every " 
side all gone, and with absolute confidence 
in their power and supremacy, made an 
astounding advance in resources and in 
world power. 

Philosophers say that we can be what 
we dare to be; what we will to be. The 
Germans, uplifted by their dazzling vic- 
tories, dared all and willed all. In their 
opinion nothing was too good for the 
German people. 

In industry, in commerce, in popula- 

466 



tion, in wealth, and in power, they went 
forward with amazing strides. 

The form of government in the new 
empire was federal. All the states sent 
representatives to a large lower house 
called the Reichstag. Above that was a 
group of nobles in a senate, called the 
Bundesrat. At the top was Emperor 
William I, with the Imperial Chancellor. 

The Reichstag had very little power. 
The representatives could talk, and did 
talk much and at length, but when they 
were done talking, the emperor could act 
as he pleased. 

The Emperor appointed all the minis- 
ters. As Imperial Chancellor, he re- 
tained Bismark, and for nearly twenty 
years Bismark was the real ruler of 
Germany. 

Realizing that they had no actual part 
in the government, and that all the real 
power had been secured by the Kaiser, 
many citizens protested, and urged re- 
forms that would give them more de- 
mocracy and freedom. 

467 



When these protests became disturbing, 
Bismark always had the same answer 
ready. 

'What nation is more prosperous than 
ours?" What people have more power 
than we have? What made our great 
army victorious over all our deadly foes? 
Was it a congress, or a king? 

''No, while other nations were discuss- 
ing and disputing, our great army, with 
one single head to command it, struck 
and won its victories. 

"Beware! Even now Russia, France, 
Austria, Italy, England, watch us with 
jealous eyes. If we weaken the power of 
our kaiser, we weaken the nation. If we 
weaken the nation, we are lost." 

The German people always admitted 
that most of this was true. A majority 
agreed that it was all true. 

"Freedom, and liberty to run the 
government, may be all right for other 
people. We have a happier land than 
theirs We have better schools, better 
education, better homes, more wealth, 

468 



and more power than our neighbors. We 
are the leaders of civihzation. 

"Let us keep our good kaiser, and our 
strong army, and feel safe against the 
world." 

William I was a faithful ruler to his 
people. He earnestly strove to secure 
for them all possible advantages. Above 
all he strove to bring wealth and power 
to the Fatherland. 

During the long, splendid reign of 
Emperor William I, little was done to 
change the plan of government. When 
William I died, in 1888, the ruling power 
rested, under the old-time theory of 
divine right, in the hands of the kaiser. 



•V. 



■i ^ 

THE BATTLE FRONT 
A German Officer viewing a French town about to be taken by his army. 

469 



WILLIAM II 

1888 TO 1918 

When William I died, there were in- 
creasing thousands who demanded more 
power for the people, and less for the 
kaiser. 

"It is dangerous to give one man so 
much power," they declared. When we 
ask to take part in affairs they rattle the 
sword and tell us that France, or Russia 
is about to attack us. 

''That is just to frighten us, and to 
make us leave the power to the kaiser and 
his nobles." 

A son of William I ruled a few months. 
Then he died, and left the throne to 
William II, a grandson of William I. 

Those who had hoped that William II 
would grant more freedom to the people 
were disappointed. 

William II cherished all the old ideas 
about the divine right of kings. 

470 




THE SODA FOUNTAIN 
In the near east tlie subjects the Kaiser planned to rule buy a glass 
of liqaoric© water from the earthen jars. No ice-cream-soda there 



"The king's will is the supreme law," 
he said. *'I will take care of my people, 
and will make them prosperous and 
powerful." 

So the old program of rule by the kaiser 
went on again. 

After the death of William I, in 1888, 
a new policy began to develop in Germany. 
Bismark had given all his great powers to 
make Germany strong. He had made 
her the greatest nation in Europe. Part 
of his plan always included peace with 
England and Russia. He developed, in 
every way, cordial relations with England. 

But while Germany had grown in 
Europe, England and France had devel- 
oped colonial empires. France, with 
colonies in Indo China and North Africa, 
had possessions of immense value. Eng- 
land had India, Egypt, and many other 
colonial holdings. 

''We also must get world-wide posses- 
sions," said the Kaiser. 

"That will antagonize England," said 
Bismark. 

471 



''Never mind, our great army will take 
care of England." 

Finally, the kaiser, finding his will 
opposed, dismissed Bismark and took the 
government into his own hands. 

Still the march of progress and pros- 
perity moved even faster than before, 
and great enterprises were undertaken 
in many directions. 

Agriculture was fostered and improved, 
till the poor German soil produced enough 
to feed the population. 

Science and industry went forward, 
not in a march, but by leaps and bounds. 
Sleepy towns awoke to find themselves 
stirring cities. Manufactures improved 
and increased. 

As manufacturing grew, commerce was 
developed to keep pace with it. In the 
markets of the world, German agents, 
German stores, German ships, became a 
familiar sight. Trade expanded till even 
England saw a rival to her supremacy on 
the sea. 

Population increased even faster than 

472 



before. When the empire began, Ger- 
many had forty one milHon. In 19 14 it 
had about seventy milHon. 

France, in Napoleon's day, had the 
largest population of any civilized state 
in Europe. In 19 14 Germany had nearly 
twice her population, and was increasing 
at a greater rate. 

All the time, notwithstanding their 
great propserity, thousands of Germans 
complained of the Kaiser's domination. 
The socialists, as they called themselves, 
grew steadily in numbers and importance. 

*'This will come to no good," they 
declared. "There is too much power at 
the top. The citizens can not even know 
what is being done with their resources, 
or what policies are being shaped for the 
Nation. 

We have to do as we are told, like 
children. 

''See our schools. All teachers must 
teach that the kaiser is the greatest of all 
men on earth, or they will be dismissed. 
They must teach the children that all 

473 



authority belongs to the kaiser and his 
nobles, or they will go begging. 

''The professors in the colleges must 
teach the same things if they wish to 
hold their positions. 

"The army is run by the kaiser and his 
staff. We can have nothing to say. We 
must all serve our time and be trained as 
soldiers or be sent to jail. 

'Trom the day we are born, till the day 
we die, we are led by the nose. We must 
believe and think and act just as the 
kaiser sa^^s. No, this will come to no 
good in the end.'* 

But the majority still believed in the 
old ways. 

"Foreigners who visit us admit that 
we are the greatest nation on earth,'* 
they replied. "They say our laws are 
the best, our cities are the cleanest and 
best governed. We have pensions for 
the workmen. Help for the farmers, help 
for manufacturers and commerce. 

"We have more wealth and more power 
than any of our neighbors. 

474 



*'Our kaiser, and our army, have brought 
us this safety and this prosperity. Some- 
day, when we shall be safe from wicked 
neighbors, we may reduce our army, and 
take a larger liberty for the people, but 
not yet." 

Now and then disputes with Russia or 
England, or some other country, which 
might possibly lead to war, were made 
imposing in the newspapers, which were 
printed under strict censorship, to show 
the people how much need there was for 
the army and the ruling power of the 
kaiser. 

As foreign trade expanded, the kaiser 
decided that Germany must have a great 
navy to protect it. So immense sums 
were at once set aside to build a grand 
navy, to protect German trade abroad. 

At this England was indeed alarmed. 
What did these Germans intend ? Were 
they planning to crush her also, as they 
had crushed Denmark, and Austria, and 
France? 

Germany declared that nothing was 

475 



farther from her mind, but England 
trusted little in the word of the kaiser. 
Actions spoke louder than words. Eng- 
land at once increased her army and her 
navy. 




TOWER OF SAINT JACQUES. PARIS 

Shells from a giant German gun, nearly seventy miles away, fell close 

beside this stately tower. 

476 



GERMANY SEEKS WORLD POWER 

By 1898 great changes had taken 
place in Europe. England, seemg clearly 
that the Kaiser had determined to com- 
pete with her upon the sea, strengthened 
her friendly relations with France. 

For years Bismark had held the friend- 
ship of England, and had managed to 
keep France and England apart. Now 
the Kaiser was losing the friendship of 
England, while France was gaining Eng- 
lish support. 

When his ministers warned him of this 
danger, the Kaiser pointed to his great 
army, and fast growing navy. ''Those 
will take care of us," v/as his answer. 

Soon Russia sent ministers to London. 

"Do you know what Germany is 
scheming?" they asked. "She plans to 
move south east. She wants to control a 

477 



vast stretch of country through Austria, 
Turkey, and Persia, clear to India. 

''If she does this she will threaten 
British rule in India, and will menace our 
control about the Black Sea." 

''Yes, we know that is true," replied 
England. "The Kaiser will stop at noth- 
ing short of world control. Let us join 
in a friendly treaty to support each 
other, and to defend France, if Germany 
should attack us." 

This was done. Now Germany had 
three great powers, England, Russia, 
and France, watching her with suspicion, 
and growing hostility. 

In Germany this was used as a reason 
for an army and navy still greater than 
before. 

"These nations have surrounded us 
with an iron ring. They wish our destruc- 
tion. The good sword of valiant Ger- 
many must set her free. Nothing shall 
crush the hopes and glorious ambitions 
of the Fatherland." 

This was the message of the newspapers, 

478 



the topic of the schools, and colleges, 
throughput Germany, where all were 
under the direct command of the kaiser. 

The outlook of German leaders became 
wider. Their ambition became vaster 
and grander. They played for the high- 
est stakes more boldly. As they them- 
selves said, they saw no reason why the 
Germans, God's chosen people, should 
not control the world. 

But through it all was the idea of 
dominion, not service. Power and wealth 
was still the German watchword. 

The officers in the German army, who 
alone knew what was really going on, 
had now grown so harsh and arrogant 
that they were hated by the German 
people themselves. They considered the 
common people mere animals, and treated 
them as such. 

In every court and capitol of Europe 
were German officials, seeking to win 
favor and to allay distrust. But the 
German voice had now grown too loud 
to go unnoticed. 

479 



They would not be encircled and 
crushed by any nations. They meant to 
fulfill their great destiny, and they told 
the world of this in language that could 
not be misunderstood. 

At last, by 19 12, it became clear that 
war was coming. The alliance between 
Russia, France, and England did not 
cause Germany to hold back. She made 
a close alliance with Austria and Turkey, 
and she worked hard, without success, to 
secure the support of Italy. 

Ambassadors hurried back and forth. 
Telegrams flashed over Europe. Armies 
were mobilized. England made an effort 
to find some agreement with Germany, 
but Germany was prepared for war, and 
was determined upon war, so England \s 
efforts for peace came to nothing. 



480 



THE WORLD WAR 

1914 

Prince Bismark, in every war, had, 
with wonderful adroitness, succeeded in 
making it appear that someone else had 
started the war. 

Now WiUiam II tried a similar method. 

In the summer of 19 14? an Austrian 
duke was assassinated. Austria charged 
Servia with the responsibility for the 
murder, saying that the plot was hatched 
with the knowledge of the Servian govern- 
ment. 

Austria at once made demands on 
Servia that would really make Servia 
dependent upon her, if the demands were 
granted. 

Servia stood in the way of the German 
road to Turkey and the East, where 
Germany planned to dominate. 

481 



"Decline to grant these demands/* 
said Russia. ''We will aid you.' 

''Whatever you see fit to do," said 
Germany to Austria, "we shall support 
you." She added, more quietly, "Press 
your claims and punish Serbia." 

"If Germany attacks you," said France 
to Russia, "We shall be at your side, and 
England will not permit France to be 
crushed. She cannot stand back now, 
for she knows her turn would come, after 
we had been overpowered." 

Then followed a brief period of terrible 
suspense. Servia agreed to most of the 
demands, and requested time to consider 
the others. Austria, under pressure from 
Berlin, refused, and marched upon Bel- 
grade. 

Russia mobilized her forces. 

Germany alone was in a position to 
prevent the coming war. Austria was 
ready, with Germany's permission, to 
delay her war measures. But Germany 
turned a deaf ear to all entreaties, and 
set her army in motion. In five days, 

482 



Germany, Austria, Russia, France, and 
little Servia, were at war. 

England had sought every means, 
first, of preventing the war, and secondly, 
if honorably possible, of keeping out of it. 

Germany, in order promptly to reach 
Paris, invaded Belgium, whose neutrality 
she had sworn to defend. 

''That treaty is only a scrap of paper,*' 
calmly declared the German chancellor. 
''Necessity knows no law." 

England had pledged herself to defend 
Belgium, and there was now no ground 
for hesitation. On the 5th of August, 
England declared war against German}^ 

The well trained troops of the kaiser 
destroyed the brave little army of Bel- 
gium, and swept on into France. The 
plan was to crush France first, and then 
turn on Russia. 

But the schemes of the German army 
staff went a bit wrong. The heroic 
defence of the forts of Liege, and of 
several other Belgian cities, delayed the 
German advance for two weeks. 

4S§ 



France secured time to bring her troops 
to the Belgium frontier. 

England was able to get her first army 
across the Channel. 

The mighty German war machine had 
terrible force. The French and English 
lines were driven back towards Paris, 
but at last they held Germany at 
bay. 

Turning new armies to the east, Ger- 
many then attacked Russia. Here, after 
some first checks, she was more success- 
ful. The Austrians were badly defeated 
by the Russians, but the Russian armies 
farther north were routed by General 
Hindenberg, and by the close of the 
second year, the armies of Russia were 
no longer a fighting force. 

Delayed, and held back in the west, 
Germany still felt hopeful of final victory ; 
but now new forces began to work against 
her. 

To terrify and weaken their enemies, 
the Germans had waged war without 
mercy. Not content with the devasta- 

484 



tion that is inevitable in a campaign, the 
German commanders made dehberate 
destruction in Belgium and in France. 
Property of all kinds, which they could 
not carry away, was destroyed. The 
world began to call them ''Huns." Grad- 
ually all the nations of the world, except 
Turkey and Bulgaria, expressed their 
sympathy with the allies, and a large 
number of the smaller states came into 
direct alliance. 

Then Germany, in order to starve 
England and France, began to sink 
merchant and passenger ships with her 
submarines, murdering thousands of non- 
combatants. 

At this the antagonism of free countries, 
like the United States, turned into fierce 
indignation. Germany's acts were con- 
trary to the laws of nations. 

In May, 19 15, Italy declared war on 
Germany. Japan, China, and nearl}^ all 
the states of South and Central America 
took similar action. 

France and England now fought with 

485 



redoubled fury. "Better die than be 
conquered by brutes that shoot defence- 
less men, and drown innocent women 
and children," they said. 

The Germans seemed much astonished 
at the general indignation. 

''It may seem cruel now/' they 
answered. "War is cruel at best, and 
the harsher we make it, the sooner it will 
be over. Shrecklichkeit is in the end the 
most merciful method. 

"At present you are not willing to 
accept the domination of Germany. But 
in the end you will be glad Germany has 
shown the world her true greatness, and 
has compelled you to share her wealth 
and power." 

"There are better things than wealth 
and power," was the reply. "We love 
freedom more than wealth, and liberty 
more than a rule that would make us 
slaves." 

But, in spite of her increasing foes, 
Germany's vast resources, and strong 
interior position, enabled her to continue 

486 



the cruel war with a large measure of 
success. 

Finding that her submarines caused 
more destruction than her armies, 
Germany hastened to increase these. To 
the horror of the world, she now proposed 
to sink every ship that came to England 
or France, whether these belonged to the 
allies or to neutral states. 

"If that course is taken,*' said the 
leaders in the United States, speaking 
with the full approval of the Nation, 
"we also will come into the conflict. The 
war is now for the defense of civilization 
against barbarism." 

Germany's answer to this was the 
sinking of the great steamer "Lusitania," 
causing the death of over a thousand 
non-combatants, with many women and 
children. Hundreds of these were Ameri- 
cans. This brutal and foolish act was 
too much for the patience of America. 
The President and the people were at 
one, and in April, 19 17, the United States 
declared war against Germany. 

4^7 



The kaiser still relied on his great 
armies. ''The war will be over before 
the Americans can do anything to hurt 
us," he said. 

He was mistaken. The United States 
Navy at once helped to stop the sub- 
marines, and that peril grew less and less. 
Great stores of army supplies were poured 
into France, and, by the spring of 191 8, 
two million American soldiers were in 
France, and millions more were on the 
way or ready to come. The battered 
lines of the English and French armies 
were filled up, and their soldiers took 
fresh heart. 

The people of England and France, 
weary of war, and discouraged as to the 
outcome, knew not how to express their 
joy and gratitude. 

For Germany, the coming of the Ameri- 
cans marked the end. Against the new 
troops, well equipped and eager for the 
fight, her wearied soldiers could not 
hold their lines. The divisions broke 
and fell back. They were almost sur- 

488 



rounded by the allied armies, and then, in 
November 1918, Germany sued for peace. 

The world's war had lasted four years, 
and had cost ten million lives. 

The military rule of Berlin went to 
smash before an angry populace. The 
kaiser had to fly to Holland, where he 
still lives in exile. The princes, dukes, 
and all the lords and officers of the old 
regime, became simple citizens of the 
Republic of Germany. 

The people of Germany, broken, ruined, 
and made desperate by the long hard- 
ships of the war, realized that they, who 
sought to make all others do their 
bidding, had brought destruction upon 
themselves. 

Those who still call themselves Aus- 
trians are feebly struggling, amid starva- 
tion, and the direst poverty, to organize 
a republic, and return to a condition of 
self-dependence. 

Germany lost, first of all, Alsace and 
Lorraine, which France again reclaimed 
with unbounded joy. 

489 



Schleswig and Holstein, taken by Bis- 
mark and William I in 1864., were in 
great part returned to Denmark. 

To Belgium she had to give a small 
district of her western land. 

To Poland once more restored by the 
Allies, Germany had to give part of 
Silesia, won at such cost by Frederick the 
Great, and those parts of Russia which 
had been taken from Poland in later 
years. 

The colonial possessions, and great 
navy, that brought Germany into con- 
flict with the world, were entirely lost. 
The army, for generations the glory and 
pride of Germany, must be reduced to a 
hundred thousand men, just enough to 
keep order in the nation. 

Besides this, Germany was ordered to 
replace the ships she had sunk, and to 
pay a great indemnity. 

For a few months, in the face of thie 
disaster, it seemed as if Germany were 
about to split to pieces, and sink into the 
chaos of anarchy that had engulfed Russia. 

490 



Then the strong and soHd quahties of the 
German people saved them from this 
last peril, as they had been saved in 
former years. 

In the place of the German Empire 
there appeared a Republic, based on the 
general form of the Republic of the 
United States. So far (I am writing in 
June, 1922) through dangers and attacks 
by hostile political groups, this republic 
has held together. 

Germany still has a large compact 
territory. She has a great population of 
people whose self-confidence and industry 
are second to none in the world. 

To expect that the Germans could 
forget in a short time the dreams, and 
towering ambitions they had fostered for 
years, would be expecting too much. 

The Germans had been taught to rely 
upon a code of morals not accepted by 
more democratic nations. Solemn 
promises were to be kept only so long as 
the good of Germany required. Might 
became right. Treaties were only scraps 

491 



of paper when they stood in the way of 
world rule for the Germans. 

To change the ideals .of a people is a 
slow process. The passion for wealth 
and power has brought the Germans near- 
to ruin. Like all other nations in history, 
they have found that domination by 
force carries the seeds of its own destruc- 
tion. 

There are those in Germany who 
teach new doctrines, lessons of service 
and cooperation. Perhaps in time the 
German people will listen to these proph- 
ets, and will change the ideals that have 
brought them low. 

With courage and hope there is no 
reason why the Germans should not 
mend their broken fortunes, and become 
again a strong, rich nation, happy and 
prosperous within her borders, and at 
peace with the outside world. 



492 



8 2 



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